Critical listening and altered states

To listen critically - We need to put our energy into the power of objective reasoning and honest observations.

i suppose we have ’sub-hobbies’ within our hobby of being a music loving audiophile. so there are no rules. no right or wrong approach to critical listening. no incorrect mind sets we are trying to be in.

OTOH in the particular audiophile journey i am on, i am as interested in how some change makes me feel emotionally in a right brain context, as objectively what my left brain thinks it hears. am i being drawn into the music? is my body happy?

unless i can get into a mental mode where i am capable of being open to the power of the music to capture me, my critical listening session cannot be relied on to get the whole picture. so my fist step is always making sure that i’m happy and content and comfortable......and free of distractions including excessive expectations. i need to just be listening to music with my mind free to let it happen. i call it my ’zen’ place.

after now 27 years of very serious system building and room building, this is the viewpoint i have learned that works best for me.

being cold and calculating and objective = a system result target accordingly. how can it not? which is a different result and sub-hobby than mine. and my experience tells me the stress of attempts at purely objective listening clouds the whole musical truth. we should avoid trying too hard.

i’m not saying that there are not situations that call for short term objective listening; for instance whenever i’m setting up a cartridge there is a degree of objective analysis going on. but it’s not how i would make a larger system direction decision or gear choice. if i’m not enjoying my critical listening session, how often am i capable of doing it?

my really extended critical listening sessions are likely my most satisfying periods of my audiophile experience. and leave me feeling fulfilled and in a great place mentally.

YMMV.

@jdane,
"Tacitus (I think) says the Germanic tribes used to make decisions: (1) at night when they were all sh*t-faced, and (2) in the morning when they were sober. They only followed their own counsel if the decision was the same in both cases."

Thanks for sharing. Great advice that’s almost a parable for life.



@ianb52,
"There is a paradox that with certain altered states the detail of perception and emotional intensity are increased, but the ability to do focused critical listening (left brain-type activity) becomes difficult and not fun. These states can key you into what is abrasive in a system, what feels intuitively good, and what is getting in the way, but not in the usual deliberate way."


It’s difficult to describe but I think you’ve nailed it. It’s certainly problem for me and one that I try to circumvent, almost anyway, anyhow.


However, the term ’critical listening’ is almost a contradiction in terms, at least for me. I always listen better when I’m relaxed.
Therefore the two things I most like to have before sitting down to listen are a comfortable seat and as much background peace and quiet as possible.


Having said that, a degree of constant low frequency noise and chatter are ok, but no sudden alarms and no surprises. https://youtu.be/qNWE_2avJT0

@mastering92

What do you mean by this?

there is no winning or losing in hifi. it a hobby. no race track or finish line. it’s about enjoyment of music, and/or gear. maybe building gear, or anything related. maybe it’s about collecting, or interior design. i’ve seen and known people who have all those perspectives; either singularly or together.

and being an audiophile is simply appreciating the quality of music reproduction. it’s a perspective. your circumstances do not determine your mind set. you may have limited choices for various reasons or asset allocation decisions, but perspective is free. and there are matters of taste, preference, and musical choices and living situations that push our priorities.

so we all can approach decisions with our own method. certainly i like mine and am happy to share it and the why behind it.

and i would bet if we were to sit down face to face and discuss this issue, our approaches would have much in common.