In another post a moment ago, I mentioned that I have a very difficult time hearing differences between different pickups when I watch X vs Y comparisons on youtube. Sometimes, even the differences between different guitars or amps seem rather subtle to me. I wonder if the entire enterprise is flawed given that I am listening to these sounds through my laptop's speaker. Do you think that a lot of the differences you would hear in person just don't come through when listening through a laptop, or should I still be able to hear these differences even if the sounds are not as rich as they would be in person?

I don't think that can explain it completely though because when I look through the comments section of these types of videos, I see many people expressing strong opinions for one or the other pickup (or amp or whatever), even though there are also a smattering of comments from people who, like me, say they can't hear a difference. It's well known that as you age you lose the ability to hear higher frequencies. It's true of most everyone beginning around age 18, not just people who are "hard of hearing." Anyway, I wonder if some of the differences that people respond to are above a range that I just don't hear at all (I'm 57 btw).