"Violinists blast holes in violin experiment"

This is interesting beyond the usual.
Double blind testing...and I am not a psychiatrist so don't believe what I'm about to say....wreaks havoc with the evaluative process of people...puts them in an almost paranoid state.

Example...we all know what pineapple tastes like, right?
Wrong...
Blindfold a group, and fool them with (you may have to mash it so the texture doesn't give it away)...oranges or some other fruit that can pass as similar.

Recently the movie, 'Hereafter' featured a cooking segment in which the 'chefs' were asked to, while blindfolded, identify various foods...they could not.

I started playing Alto Sax as a child of 7 years old...my parents bought an inexpensive Conn, as I recall...at 17...playing professionally, I bought a Selmer Mark VI, considered to be the 'best' of the day...the difference was, in a word, unbelieveable...not just in the way it played for me the musician, but for (and I realize that it's interactively related) those listening...'Wow, what did you do?' 'Gee, you sound like a different musician Larry, what's up?'

So, to say that the Strad sounds the same, or there's no difference only points to the lack of scientific safeguards that have to be taken during any experiment of this kind.

Jim Thiel, one time, many years ago said to me...'There's no such thing as a small difference Larry...it depends entirely on who's experiencing that difference.'

That stuck with me, resonated...some thirty years later, I'm remembering it and passing it on.

Good listening,

Larry

Thx Rodman99999.
Nice to know someone is paying attention...my comments about the Chef's class apparently went unnoticed...
To the original point...when I ran my own audio store...I worked for years to be able to do blind tests...
I would always do an A/B/A

New cables would arrive...I'd listen to the A...then the B....then the A...making notes on each...Don't try to fool me with repeats...let me hear it in that order.
BUT...it's not for everyone...early on, I felt staged...as if I was being tested...funny.
In later years...it came more naturally...but I can fully see the stress that this kind of experience creates.

Jim Thiel...one of a kind...sorely missed...not only brilliant...a gentle soul.

Larry

Halcro,

Interesting point.
I'd say that you're probably right...but only because it would seem to support conventional wisdom and not fly in the face of it.

We've been told for years that the Strads were the Violin to own...anything that supported that theology would not be questioned...you're most likely 100% right.

Great catch.

Larry

Tomcy6,

"Larry, based on your experience doing A/B/A blind tests and no surprises, do you think that your expectations might have influenced what you heard?"

OK, I'm thick some times, so maybe I'm misunderstanding, if so forgive me.
By doing the test the way we did...A/B/A , and NOT knowing what A or B was...I can't imagine that I had ANY expectations.
I knew we had a control and a variable.
Let's say new preamp...A, might be an existing one in the store...B might be the new one, but I didn't have any idea which was which...so 'expectations' could not have been part of my thinking.

Emperically...how does A sound...importantly, after that evaluation, how does B compare? How is it better? Worse?

Larry

Tomcy6...to be honest...yes, I believe I can.
A few years ago, I went to an audio store to hear a particular Integrated amplifier on a pair of speakers that I'm very familiar with.
About 30 seconds into the audition, I asked:
"Are you using Audioquest speaker wires and or interconnects?"
The salesman was floored, as he knew I couldn't/hadn't seen the cables or interconnects.
Speaker cables and interconnects can, and sometimes do, offer very subtle changes, nuances to or FROM the sound.
Generally, at least for me, errors of commission are easier to quantify than errors of simple omission-I suppose this would fall under the topic of 'It's not what's right, but what's wrong', that creates dissatisfaction in an audio system.

The degree to which I can/do identify differences is fairly constant...the variable nature of cables, again, depending on their sonic character and the aforementioned omission/commission characteristics would be the keys to my ability to hear it.
Generally, longer sessions make those evaluations easier for me...as I do NOT grow accustomed to the sound...the longer I hear it incorrectly, the more I dislike it.

Blind tests, again, to me, are easy...I grew to become good at it, but it took many months/years of losing that 'angst' most people seem to experience when 'staged' with such tests/comparisons.

I hope this makes sense...great question.

Larry