A "small number of blind tests" keep being used to condemn all subjective reports of differences in equipment (esp. cables).
I'm using the same speakers I did 5 years ago, but I'm certain that my system sounds quite different. The only things I've changed have been cables, cd playback equipment and amplifiers.
So, either those things make a difference or they don't. If they do, then that difference is certainly not being uncovered by double blind testing (as it is aparently being practiced).
The reports that audiophiles claim to hear difference in sighted tests (but can't correctly identify them blind)are also very intersting. I don't doubt that the differences heard in sighted tests are due in part to a defensive need to prove a position.
Unfortunately, it doesn't help establish whether the differences are real or not.
Peter