The Absurdity of it All

I qualify for old guy at 72. I never wore ear protection at rock concerts. The army never gave me ear protection to shoot a rifle. Have bad hearing but the one thing that some old guys have is a lot of disposable income...!The wife and I had no kids so gotta spend it on something. Have been buying back the vinyl I sold 30 years ago to go digital...!

I'm 82 and soon to be 83. I can still hear a lightly struck triangle in the rear of the orchestra. Due to tons of amazing tweaks, my audio system is better than it has ever been. The resolution is such that I can discern between drum heads covered in animal skin vs those covered with acrylic. I no longer listen for detail, bass, etc., I just listen to a performance unfolding in front of me that expands into an amazing sound stage. The system is seamless. Each performer is defined in a three-dimensional space, with all instruments having a  lifelike size. I hear all of this with no problem. However, trying to carry a conversation in a crowded space, a restaurant, for example, affects my hearing. Ambient noise really sucks.

Frank

@oregonpapa 

Thank you for that. The difference between hearing, and listening.

Put an omni directional mic in a busy room. Play it back. Try do isolate any conversation and follow it. Not so easy to do. It hears everything, and listens to nothing.

However, if in the room, with visual cues and listening, its possible to filter through the noise. Although, I do find it quite difficult lately.

Put the same omni mic in the middle of the orchestra, and you're going to have a similar challenge isolating elements.

But, wether in that room with a live orchestra, or listening to the same properly recorded performance at home (key word is listening...) elements can be isolated with ease.

Listening is a skill, hearing is a matter of biology...

+1 oregonpapa

I think the OP has a point.
I work in a highish end retail store and am constantly asked by colleagues and customers what I think about how one item compares to another, whatever it may be.  I have to be honest...at 69 y/o, with many live rock concerts behing me, I am suffering from both age-related hearing loss and tinitus.  I still hear the sound of music through my diminished auditory instrument, and can compare reproduced sound to live sound as I hear it now, but I simply cannot discern what I once did.
Add to that the fact that my prime audiophile years were spent frequently under the influence of cannabis products, which I no longer do, and there is another factor distinguishing my "degree of certainty" about how things sound, relative to one another.