Changing audio beliefs

In my very early days of audio, I used to prefer loudspeakers with a lot of presence.  Then, as I could afford concert tickets, I realized music didn't have that in your face presence.  It simply floated there.  Since then i moved away from loudspeakers with lots of presence. 

In my early days of hi end listing, I preferred a lively bright sound. Now, I much prefer a warmer sound. 

I would bet that for many, their audio tastes mirror their preference for automobiles.  

I believed that being acutely aware of the deception of bias (e.g. visual, expectation, confirmation, etc.) is enough to render oneself immune to it. This turned out to be completely wrong.

Most of my beliefs... like that I could just apply intuitive logic to putting together a great system was destroyed in the first couple years of serious pursuit. I was trained and worked as a scientist, so at first I gravitated to measurements and numbers. I very quickly became disillusioned and dropped that approach. Learning from then on was to listen to systems and components... read professional reviews and learn as if I was building  new science based on observation. Then, I didn't have any more belief problems.