clearthinker
So, @clearthinker, please tell us about your blind tests. How were they conducted, how many test subjects, what were the results?
Differences in SQ can only be confidently distinguished by properly run blind testing.Blind testing certainly has its place in audio - although not so much for the typical audiophile - but this statement is completely false. Those who insist on blind testing usually cite "placebo effect" or "expectation bias" as justification for their rather odd belief system. Those are very real mechanisms, no doubt, but they are not absolute. Placebo effect will not cure cancer. No blind testing is required to distinguish between extreme examples of audio components, nor is it always required to detect one that is malfunctioning.
If you are not testing blind, your results are personal and subjective and therefore not useful.You’d be better off speaking for yourself rather than for others. You may well indeed require blind testing to know how something sounds, but that’s not a universal trait.
So, @clearthinker, please tell us about your blind tests. How were they conducted, how many test subjects, what were the results?