I never thought I was exceptional - and wasn't when I started - like a lot of people, all I could say was 'that sounds better' or 'there's something I don't like about that' !
Doing all the speaker builds has given me a better ability to concentrate on the different frequency bands when listening to a speaker or a system - or to check things like low-level detail or timing while ignoring other things eg. something bad or distracting in the treble for instance.
In terms of comparisons I couldn't make a fine judgement about very similar systems a week or a month apart, but if I have an overview of what's driving some speakers and it's similar enough to my own system, then I can listen to some familiar tracks & I can retain the pros/cons of that speaker for quite a while. With different speakers, the differences are often not subtle.
There's no way my own project would have started unless I'd retained the audio memory of the TAD 2001's on the wooden bi-radials at ETF , or some of the bass guitar tone on James's with the best combos at Eggborough or Owston.
Bear in mind James and Nick can spot stuff in the bass and timing quicker than I can - although I can get there in the end. Higher-up I think I'm quite good - maybe because I haven't been to a lot of loud gigs over the years.
Funny comment from James today on email -
"everyone has their audio prejudices - I like my audio prejudices best ! "