Maybe critical listening skills are bad?

The interesting finding in such research is that not all physical qualities to which experts may be attuned correlate with liking. In the end, product developers need only attend on those physical qualities that are associated with what the target audience likes. 

Oh, absolutely.  What audiophiles often don't understand is that companies like Bose are _very_ much driven by cognitive science.  The depth of research they do into creating products which are liked, and therefore have financial value in the marketplace is breathtaking.  Absolute perfection of an audio signal is irrelevant.  Engineering metrics only matter so long as they are correlated to being "liked."  Their success in the marketplace speaks for itself.

I start with "do I like it better than something else"? 

If I do, I can analyze why but I won't even bother analyzing if I don't feel drawn in by the sound. Over time I've learned what nuances I like, so if I read reviews I look for those specific things to determine if a product interests me. 

If you don't want to do any critical listening, then just treat it like normal. What I mean is just listen to it. Do you like it "better" maybe, or swap back once and see if it's now "worse". 

My thought is if it makes you happy, holds your attention, you are going to use it. Then it's "better". This entire process is suppose to bring joy. If it does not, then it's not the right piece.

@baylinor wrote:

... paying attention to the room acoustics is of primary importance if you ever want to truly be able to appreciate the differences that various equipments provide.

@mahgister wrote:

Acoustics rules audio... Sorry for the sellers of gear upgrades...

I agree with the stated consequence mentioned by @baylinor, and how paying attention to acoustics (which can mean a lot, really, and depending on the context could point in different directions on how to implement acoustic measures, or not) provides for a better foundation of assessing the differences of a variation of audio gear.

However, contrary to the claim made by @mahgister above I don't see how that should negatively impact sellers of audio equipment - quite the opposite; better optimized acoustics will benefit all levels of audio gear/solutions/configurations and thus tell them apart and make them sound their best, not level them out. 

Some speakers principles with a more narrow directivity behavior - horn-loaded and line sources in particular - don't call for the same degree of acoustic measures, and quite a few people, not least the ones with horn-loaded speakers, actually prefer a more lightly damped listening room for sounding more natural. What's interesting is seeing those who previously owned direct radiating, dynamic driver-fitted and low efficiency speakers and how they rid their listening room of damping materials, significantly even, with the coming of high eff. horn-loaded speakers. There's also something to be said of a listening environment that's a naturally inhabited area with furniture, plants, paintings, rugs/skins, shelves and other that aids overall mental well-being here, as opposed to a more clinically looking and heavily treated/damped space or man cave/dungeon even. 

Sorry for verging off-topic, @erik_squires - I guess I'll leave it at that.