# Blind Listening Tests



## atxtrd (Apr 30, 2011)

Interesting read.  Blind Listening | Stereophile.com


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## Earzbleed (Feb 10, 2013)

Thanks for that, very interesting. Just reading through the letters at the end and wanted to congratulate Paul Gowan on his letter if he happens to be a member here. He expressed my feelings on the subject much more succinctly than I could have. Some of my fondest musical memories involve driving round in my XW Fairmont with AC/DC,turned up to distortion level, blasting out of a pair of crappy speakers set in the rear shelf. Sound quality?? To me, that meant not being able to hear the alternator buzz through the speakers.


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## MarkZ (Dec 5, 2005)

What is the interesting part here? It appears John is just being John. There have always been detractors when it comes to certain listening tests. That's a good thing. The problem is that very few of these detractors actually propose viable alternatives. Or even seek out alternatives at all.

I skimmed it, but it seems like the biggest gripe they actually have is that 

1) the listening tests are simply not LONG enough (ie.you should be able to take the test home with you); and
2) analysis of the results have been poor because "good" listeners are grouped in with "bad" listeners. This is a valid criticism, but I see no mention of an analysis to deal with this (and there ARE several statistical analyses that successfully deal with that exact problem). Instead, they just want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Both are valid concerns that need to be addressed, but it seems that the subjectivist camp is more concerned with being right than they are with finding the truth.


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