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Re: The Inquisition Continues

>Wasn't the panel test skewed by only one person being able to sit in
>the right spot?

Yes. The first test used 4-5 listenrs at a time, which meant that the
tests ran over 2 days. Because it became apparent that the position
of the listener in the room was also a variable, in the subsequent
tests, we had just 2 listeners at a time take part, one sitting behind
the other, so that both were close to being in the sweet spot. This
stretched the testing to 6 days. It would have even better if we had
tested just one listener at a time, but this would have required too
much time just for the blind tests, let alone every other aspect of
the review, to be practical for a monthly publication schedule.

>Were the levels matched precisely system to system?

As closely as is possible with speakers, which have an unflat response
compared with amplifiers or digital front-ends. We matched the levels
based on the speakers' B-weighted sensitivities, which downplays the
effect of differences at the frequency extremes. We did publish the
experimental procedures in full detail, BTW.

One point that is continually glossed over by proponents of blind
testing is that when the audible differences are small in absolute
terms, which is very often the case, designing a blind test that has
sufficient sensitivity to detect such differences is not trivial.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile



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