What exactly is critical listening? Who does it?

Is transcendence or suspension of consciousness considered to be the highest form or goal of listening to music reproduction on a high end system? I’d suggest setting and propagating this as a goal is a disservice to the audiophile community, this invites discontent by setting a nearly impossible goal. 

100% agree with your statement, not only because it invites discontent, but also because it is merely posited as the supreme goal, without justification. Let 1000 goals bloom!

Who the hell cares about sound quality anyway, really pretty silly in the whole scheme of things

Of course, in the moral scheme of things, this is true. But it’s very hard to care half-way about something we love. I’m in Siena right now and people here are NUTS for the Palio. Their whole being is wrapped up in it. To me, it seems like collective lunacy -- but then I think, "This is who they are, to themselves. This is their identity."

What I like about audiophiles is their ability to care so much about the fabric of what makes life enjoyable. I like the fact that they’re "serious" about it, that they care enough to debate and argue (with civility, of course). Would mindless scrolling on a phone be better? 

This is not a vocation or a moral mission, but it is a serious hobby, with real stakes, and profound payoffs. 

 

i know for myself personally i find the deepest most meaningful feedback about where my system is from non-critical listening.....where i am just listening without any specific agenda. it’s when the full wonder of the music seems to happen. where the music is driving my mind, not any mental baggage i’ve brought to the session.

how is the music making me feel? 

@mikelavigne Strong points here. I would add that “listening modes” are based on what we experience - a balance of what we hear or perceive we hear, and how it makes us think and feel. In my personal observation, if I am not hearing certain things about the music and it does not fulfill me emotionally, it DOES become a distraction, and I think and listen critically to understand how to address it. This is probably similar to what you explain, in your whole post above, but I know I’m not alone for being a critical listener at times for the reason of wanting to address a challenge in the system’s presentation such that it makes me feel more fulfilled. Not feeling right about the presentation or performance can be the biggest distraction of all, especially if one is fully aware of what is missing!

One thing I found is that depending on the characteristics of your system it can draw you in to critically listen or to experience. Highly detailed system with pronounced slam pull the focus of your mind to what you have not heard before or specific sounds through their highly detailed character... or their stark imaging. They pull at your analytical side.

Musical systems draw in your emotional side and turn off your analytical side. These soothe your soul. This is why most folks pursue high end audio systems, but often get lost on the analytical side while evaluation and choosing systems. You can end up, like I did at one point, having and incredibly detailed system that would highlight the mastering and venue. While I would get excited by all the great sounds I was hearing, I would get bored listening in 45 minutes. 

If you are interested, when your are at a dealer with an Audio Research I/50 or the new I/70 integrated amp and some non analytical speakers. Sit and listen to some music. Don't consider buying... just experience it.  It is the most commonly available warm really musical amp. For me, my eyes close and I instantly get lost in the music and couldn’t care less about the speakers or the electronics... the emotional connection is instant and deep for me. 

It is at first impression a matter of semantics. Critical can obviously mean at least two things - one connotes negativity - ie a person being critical points out negative facts, [their] observations, or perceptions from a real or supposed (usually subjective) ideal.

The second meaning/use is a variance from an objective standard. Ie. a business plan or financial investment analysis requires a critical review of all known variables, and some accounting/adjustment for unknown future impacts. All engineering and design requires critical review for many reasons.

Socrates was attributed with saying "an unexamined life is not worth living". Meaning (I think) that all people should consider how to examine and improve themselves (physically, emotionally, educationally, financially, spiritually, etc.) - to at least be working a little over time toward becoming a ’better’ version of themselves in their roles as father, employee, neighbor, mentor, professional, etc.

I don’t think of critical listening as having any ’negative’ connotations. I will choose [when] to notice detail, soundstage, tone, emotion of the singer or music, fidelity, warmth, yada yada. I can listen to music in the car or home completely as background music, but I can also listen ’critically’ - and remember how the song ’felt’ when I heard it live in a concert as a teenager, and how it sounds now on a personally curated hifi system.  All good. It becomes ’negative critical listening’ when a) you can’t appreciate any level of the playback for what it is, and create some ’comparison’ in your mind when you hear playback that is cognitively dissonant from what you think it should be, or usually worse, a sound or experience that is out of financial reach. Comparison or 'criticality' in that sense chases that mythical dragon of some satisfaction that is unachievable - in the comparison mindset. Like Einstein said "we cannot solve the problems with find ourselves in, with the same type of thinking that created them". 

I see a couple of situations where I use critical listening - extensively when purchasing new components and again during set up in my home listening area. 

For me the most important thing is to have a set of 6 or so musical tracks that I know very well, and that represent the different parts of the audio spectrum. Bring with or have AD stream, so that you can listen for reproducible instruments/sounds from the component being auditioned. Same thing when setting up a listening area (moving things around, adding a new component). 
 

Critical listening for me evolved into musical enjoyment once things are just right.