As much as I try, I just don't get it........

@millercarbon That was a really nice, graduated ladder of listening growth -- the audiophile's bildungsroman. Another poster here with really great ears also uses YT, but not to evaluate anything in an absolute sense; rather, he does what you describe (I think), namely to "see in" to the system on YT, to grok its personality.

Right. There’s no such thing as evaluating anything in the absolute sense anyway. All we can do is evaluate relative. That’s why its so important to be willing to change things. The biggest waste of time in audio is to drive to a dealer or show or friend or whatever and listen the the system and not change anything. Which is of course what everyone does. What you must do instead is have them change something. Anything. Almost does not matter.
Easiest and maybe best is to bring along one of your interconnects. Ask to compare to one of theirs. Then you hear what was in the system, yours, and theirs. Three comparisons! Or ask about the power cord or IC in the system, what do they have for less or more, and try that. Seriously. Almost does not matter what it is. Point is the minute you hear one thing change like that you immediately get a handle on the whole system.

All you can really hear by the way is the relative difference between the two power cords. There’s no such thing as an "absolute" anything. Its all relative. All the same, its a tremendous advantage to listen and compare. Total game-changer.

That’s the real reason why when I have audiophiles over I like to remove the cable elevators. Or turn active shielding off. Its not to demo the elevators. Its not to test the listeners. Its to give them the chance to hear and learn.

To me its shocking how few people try these things. But then given that is the case, its no surprise the number who never advance past that second intermediate level, can’t find any value in YT videos. These things go hand in hand you know.

Another one, whining and blaming the room and setup for not being able to evaluate what they heard at a show. As if there is some reference room somewhere we all use, and only the show room is different! Stalled out at Level II....

"I guess people like the sound of compressed cell phone videos over quagly computer speakers."

Nothing about youtube, but about the above statement. On two occassions, at Harman store when asking to hear different Revel speakers, the source was.......mp3s from a Samsung phone connected via 3.5mm headphone output.

When a place that has access to some decent products (Mark Levinson, Revel, JBL) demoes them that way, no wonder YouTube videos are sufficient to evaluate the sound of tube amplifiers and what not. For some.

You just make your mind up in advance, frequently heavily influenced by price, and then convince yourself that what you hear via laptop is what you want. Win-win-win. (wallet-ego-seller).

To what others have said... headphones make all the difference for starters, and yes, you can become educated over time listening to various things and learning what music sounds like. (I know that is an odd statement, but true) I am a drummer, I listen and buy cymbals at times, based on YT videos. I’ve heard enough cymbals in my day to know what I am listening for, and what I need from the sound. Snare drums are similar, but are slightly more challenging. I have an “educated” ear in that regard and can discern very well what I prefer and don’t. Stereo gear is not much different. The more you listen to recorded music, become familiar with how it sound as a whole, you can start to pull out the good and bad from various “systems” on video.

You can't audition components on Youtube or in dealer showrooms. And it's fun to go crazy at an audio conference having heard that next, great thing that whets your appetite. But you're right--all of our systems are snowflakes, each different. Add the same component to each of our systems and it'll typically be a different experience. So, we buy and we try and sometimes we return. But it's not like we try every amp or interconnect or DAC and then make a choice. Round trip shipping plus 5% restocking fee on thousands of dollars--it adds up. If it were only as easy as going to car dealers and test-driving all the mini SUVs and then making an educated choice. Instead, we research, listen to friends, listen to folks on here and then maybe try one or three amps/speakers/interconnects in our system. No wonder we wonder if cryogenically freezing wire makes a difference. Or maybe cryogenically freezing THAT cable is really what I want. Does it come in silver? I guess it leaves me in a state of not really knowing...I love my system but had I test-driven the Hegel or the Wilson Maxx or the Classe or the Chord, would I have loved them more? I don't know. I never will. If I had millions I might know better but never conclusively. All of our systems are snowflakes and we're in this game because it's fun to research, to tweak, to upgrade, and most of all to listen to the music. I just bought an amazing power amp--it's so much better than my previous amp. I'm truly enjoying it. And I'm also thinking, is there something I'm missing even with this? Probably, and I'm exhausted! :-)  

Get yourself a great headphone and then listen . It makes a world of difference . I got me some planar headphone from HiFiMan and I'm really enjoying the music on YT . I can even hear the difference between the recordings and systems according to the quality .