What exactly is critical listening? Who does it?

Critical listening is just another aspect of critical thinking. As much as critical thinking has been disparaged as of late it's no wonder some people have this knee jerk reaction to the thought of critical listening. 

I find myself increasingly wary of those that mock critical thinking and distancing myself from them, finding myself the better for it as they are very taxing. Once removed, all their negatives come to fore.

All the best,
Nonoise

I think non-critical listening is what most people do with blue tooth speakers on the patio, Spotify on the soundbar while they are cleaning, and listening to music in the car

@ozzy62 

if you can’t get to the neutral floating ’zen’ state unless you wear headphones out on your deck in the sun, then you have work to do on your system and viewpoint.

no offense intended and i’ll bet you can get there just fine if you think about it.....or  don't think about it. :-)

there is a right time for critical listening. sometimes we need answers. especially to set up a phono cartridge, or dial in speaker or listening position placement. or many more obvious sonic questions. we need to develop the listening skills to understand what we are hearing. have good references. and no reason not to enjoy that part. it's part of the hobby and system development.

but we also need to be able to get away from that type listening and just let the music happen and disconnect too.

@mikelavigne 

I am in for what you wrote above. There is a time for Critical listening and a time for just relax and enjoy, knowing that what you hear is the best you can get out of for system. 

Anyone here practice meditation like mindfulness. If you nearly empty your mind and experience music... well, that is the opposite of critical listening. That is experiencing music. 

So, with that as a baseline, critical listening can be concentrating ones minds on the performance or the system.