What exactly is critical listening? Who does it?

@immatthewj 

Thank you for the remembrance. In my early years I was a huge rap fan. Critical listening was very important in my early formation years.

Since my early years analyzing the merits of rap, I have moved on.  

I've learned that satisfaction in the pleasures of life is elusive and rarely achieved if not for just a brief period of time.  We endure frustration and disappointment very often in our lives.  No matter how good it gets, sadness is ever present. 

Have a nice day.

Since my early years analyzing the merits of rap, I have moved on.  

I bet that took at least five minutes.......

critical listening is something I must do in the process of audio restoration of old damaged recordings. I must be sensitive to various audio anomalies common in older audio recordings. above all, my restoration results must seem nominally "musical" to the average ear. that means, in effect, "no shriek or boom" unless it is in the recording itself.

It’s clear to me the engineers involved when recording and mixing the end musical product as well as those people involved in the transmission of sound through the various Data pipes to our homes for Home Theater streaming purposes at times may not be fully in touch with what critical listening means

It’s very clear that Home theater streaming sound quality is substantially less than it should be and should significantly be improved but for some reason critical listening is not resulted in any effort to achieve this.  .

My biggest issue is with the claim listening purely for the music is the highest/best mode or goal of the audiophile. How can this be when the very essence of this hobby/obsession is sound quality. So now we’re supposed to ignore sound quality and transcend into this blissful world where sound quality is of no consequence. There must be something seriously wrong with the sound quality of one’s system if listening to it causes stress, discomfort. 

@sns 

critical listening is a tool. not the goal.

in 2004 i built a dedicated room, professionally designed, with lots of built in diffusion. it took me 11 more years and lots of effort to get the room and system to where i was satisfied in 2015. the process involved lots of critical listening. but even through that process, there was plenty of times when i just sat down to listen to music and had no change or issue that i was thinking about. many times during these casual listening sessions, things would come to mind, or i would hear something, to think about. and the process of letting the music speak to me first, and not being in that critical mind set, yielded the most profound results. i came to trust all my senses to guide me. i learned to trust how i was feeling. and not just my conscious mind about what i was listening to. even to the point of realizing i was not in the mood to listen. i needed to go do something else to get to the right headspace.

everyone is different. but this is what worked for me.

if i am in a very aggressive critical listening mode, where i have a specific thing i’m investigating, i tell my wife not to disturb me. i need to concentrate fully to get to the bottom of something. so there are degrees of critical listening, and it’s a learned thing. and i respect it, and it can be very satisfying too. i’m not anti-critical listening.

and any time i'm listening my spidey sense is activated to recognize some audible niggle that needs attention. i am sensitive to how things should sound and am in touch with my left brain enough to be aware. but i'm not actually actively listening for something that may or may not be there and i don't want my brain power to be used for that. i trust my experience to manage it.

now i’m retired, my system building time is over for now, and there are few reasons now to listen critically. but say, i downsize and need to set up a new room. then i’ll have to travel down that same road again.