Rodney_gold
R.I.P. 5 June 2018
Short answer is that you never do.
There is no reference you can tap , as no recording will ever sound like live and how close it comes is dependant on production , what any recording engineer hears is mangled by the control room and the monitors so might sound radically different in your room.
Even the sound you hear at listening position cannot be reconciled with it measuring "flat" as the room gain and treble droop associated with the room as well as any reflections mandate that the FR at listening position is most certainly and should NOT be flat , it is a taste based target curve.
Not even headphones can help , they may be accurate tonally , but there are other shortcomings they cannot overcome that only speakers deliver.
So it essentially all boils down to your own taste and your own ability to suspend disbelief that you are listening to a recording.
There is no reference you can tap , as no recording will ever sound like live and how close it comes is dependant on production , what any recording engineer hears is mangled by the control room and the monitors so might sound radically different in your room.
Even the sound you hear at listening position cannot be reconciled with it measuring "flat" as the room gain and treble droop associated with the room as well as any reflections mandate that the FR at listening position is most certainly and should NOT be flat , it is a taste based target curve.
Not even headphones can help , they may be accurate tonally , but there are other shortcomings they cannot overcome that only speakers deliver.
So it essentially all boils down to your own taste and your own ability to suspend disbelief that you are listening to a recording.
