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Blind testing is about comparing components...

...not about how one listens to one's system under normal conditions. It's not about wearing a blindfold or something :-). The idea is that when the components are switched, one does not know a priori which is which. If one did, then it would be like the "Grant's tomb" case, where the answer is part of the problem statement itself and therefore provides no information.

I've actually only participated in one set of blind tests, at RMAF last year. Bob Cordell had a setup with a switch that controlled some relays that switched between a tube and solid-state power amp. Levels were matched by matching the voltage at the speaker to within 0.1 dB with a 1 kHz sine wave. This wasn't a true blind test, as there was a 50/50 chance of getting the right answer. In a properly controlled test, each time a "switch" is made, it would be a random choice, such that the probability of getting a lot of correct answers by just guessing is negligible.

Nonetheless, it was an interesting test. It was surprisingly hard to tell differences. Some people got the right answer, while others got it wrong. Some people left with smug self-assurance that they got it right, but actually got it wrong. Others couldn't tell. My own experience with this involved listening to the song "Malachi" (the solo piano version) from Andrew Hill's "Time Lines" CD. This is a superb recording, and one that moves me very much emotionally. The DIY speakers in the test were made by Peter Smith (poster pjay here). They sounded so darned good that I very quickly became so emotionally involved with the music that I wasn't really interested in figuring out which was the tube amp and which was the solid-state. I realized that to do this type of test effectively, it would be a good idea to get a great recording of music that one does not "connect" with emotionally. They did play a track from Bela Fleck's "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo", and the bass line made the 35W tube amp clip, while the 200W solid-state amp kept on going. This made it easy to tell, but was done afterward and was not part of the test per se.

In my view, it ultimately comes down to the issue of claims of fact. If one makes a claim of fact, then there should be some basis for that claim. I don't consider a sighted test to be a valid basis because there is no control of the experiment and all kinds of shenanigans are permitted - whether deliberate or subconscious. If there is no claim of fact (such as would be the case for a simple statement of preference), then it's a non-issue. I've observed that lots of audiophiles fail to distinguish these two cases.

So, like most audiophiles, I've actually done very few blind tests. But by the same token, I'm not prone to posting all kinds of absurd proclamations about this or that component in the forums here as some do either. The audio press is infamous for such stuff as well.


Edits: 10/05/07
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