Does someone’s opinion affect your opinion?

What if he said your wife is ugly....

Next of kin will notified 😆

It is normal for most to be influenced to some level or degree by others opinion....

But no audio system is the same nor the hearing filters are the same...

And the place where we are in our audio journey differ too...

Then...

Another important thing is learning to trust our ears....

Then we must set some acoustic experiments and train ourself then this improve self confidence a lot...

«Opinions are like an onion and we see only the last skin»-- Groucho Marx 🤓

“What if he said your wife is ugly....

I let all the visitors know ahead of time about my wife’s Santa Clarita Diet 😉

I think the kind of impact your friends comment has is somewhat dependent on your experience level, exposure to other systems, and depth of knowledge. For instance if someone said that of my system, I would have to exert some self control not to start laughing. I have been an avid audiophile for fifty years. While I am open to learning, I know exactly what attributes my system has; relative to real music and other systems.

On the other hand, I would become very interested in understanding where they are coming from. I would want to hear what they have been hearing to better understand.

I do understand your reaction. I think it is pretty normal… I’m assuming you have not been an audiophile for fifty years. It would spur me on to understand more. I would certainly want to hear what he is listening to, I would also go out and find some audio stores and listen to what they have. Is there any truth in the claim? If not, great, you can go back to enjoying your system. But if there is… then you can learn something… this is how we learn over time and zero in on what you will ultimately appreciate as you mature.

I would look at your friends comments as a great opportunity to learn and experience more systems.

It's only natural to seek validation or a rational for your personal opinions. I believe we've all experienced it, at some point or another, in some form, what @DEADHEAD1000 is experiencing. Most of us don't do this with just our audio, but with most everything in life: food, art & entertainment, cars, on & on. We read reviews, we invite opinions to inform our perceptions.

I think your friend has provided you with a valuable insight: you now know how his experience ("piercing" & almost unlistenable) relates to your perception ('enjoyable'). That is a refence point by which I mean that a refence point is neither right nor wrong, bad or good. It is simply a point to refer to relative to you and your opinion. That is the utility of audio reviewers: when you get familiar with their opinions you know how to interpret those in relation to your own.

Also you mentioned it's a new cartridge, so there's folks hear that will say it needs to 'break in'. FWIW I think its the listener that really needs  to 'beak in'.

Cheers and let your ears be your guide