The following may be seem elementary/obvious to you. If so, feel free to ignore it.
I’d suggest appreciating and liking are two different things and when it comes to esthetics, the former does not necessarily lead to the latter.
What sort of listener are you? By this I mean, which portion(s) of your perceptive capacities is/are most active when listening? You can think of this in terms of right brain/left brain.
Personally, I’ve never found that reading commentaries/criticism, etc. has has much impact in terms of enhancing my enjoyment of music because for me, it’s all about emotion and physicality. If my emotions and body are not engaged, no amount of intellectual information will compensate. I can learn to respect music based upon enhanced understanding of its structure and intent but for me enjoyment is not rooted in the left brain. I want to be carried away by music and for me, this is not a left brain function/state.
Needless to say, you may be different. My point is that it’s crucial to understand this about one’s self. Otherwise, how can one trust one’s esthetic sensibilities?