A great way to listen for clunks in general is to drive diaganally over a speed bump at slow to slow/medium speed and listen for noise you don't like. Hit the bump with the left tire first and also the right tire first. Roll down your windows!

CV joints (just for info) don't have much going on inside of them as you drive in a straight line. They do their work as you turn and especially as you turn AND apply gas. That is the key to quickly diagnosing the CV noise.

For upper ball joints (I have a bad one now) you can usually grap the top of the tire, even when it's firmly on the ground, and give it hell as you lean back and forth into it. Do this with the car raised too. Watch the parts and you may see something that you can't hear.

Tie rods, jack up car and wiggle as it would turn. Lower joint, Raise car and pull up on the bottom of the tire with all your might and then push it back, see if it moves (also will tell you if bushings are screwd on lower control arm).

ANY of these conditions will eat up your tires (except for CV's). Look for a torn.

CV boot, if it's torn, just swap the axle.