Double blind test- over a month- could this be a reliable test for any equipment?

Audio is a thousand little religions, all of them right, and all of them wrong.

I once read that a/b-ing by switching back and forth during a track was the quickest way to missread true differences (as opposed to whole track with A, then whole track with B). And this was my experience...but a few people on another forum told me I was flat wrong. I still do not believe the brain can detect the finer differences with rapid switching. 

Back when I was a kid, we played a game where we used to say a word over and over for about 30 sec to a minute, rendering it confusing and meaningless. 

A/Bing music for a month would probably end up with a similar result.

All the best,
Nonoise

I once read that a/b-ing by switching back and forth during a track was the quickest way to missread true differences (as opposed to whole track with A, then whole track with B). And this was my experience...but a few people on another forum told me I was flat wrong. I still do not believe the brain can detect the finer differences with rapid switching.

Right. Yet that is exactly what many people do believe. Once long ago I let these poor souls so mislead me into this nonsense that I refused even to waste my time trying to compare interconnects. Surely, their BS went, in the time it takes to change them you would forget what you heard. So don't waste your time!

Then this one dealer advertised they had this switch that would let you switch between two interconnects. They could even pretend to switch if you wanted, a true double-blind! 200 miles later when I got there the switch was broke. Well I'm here... waste of time... but might as well....

So after listening a few minutes to one I got up, changed the source input, changed the interconnect, changed the source input back and.... freaked out! Instantly, immediately, from still standing BEHIND the amp I heard the difference PLAIN AS DAY!

That was back when I could hardly hear anything compared to now. So imagine how I feel hearing about how you have to switch fast, or double-blind, or any of that bull. Are you old enough to remember Mr T and his signature line?

I pity da fool.

Listen. Trust your ears. Pity those who don't.

The double-blind audio data (e.g. codec) tests conducted by researchers and sound experts will be rapid comparisons of the same short segment. Typically you will pick a few seconds out of a 30 second track, and rapidly switch back and forth in order to easily detect differences.

When we compare gear, we often do the same. 10-30 seconds of the same segment of music, repeated back and forth as quickly as possible between the two pieces of gear. It's the most reliable way to identify real differences.

In any event, you can only do this for so long before you need to take a break. Unless the differences are so large and obvious, it can take a lot of concentration to go through this and people get tired.