Telling musicians to evaluate and choose their instruments in a “scientific” way?

clearthinker, because it is the human central nervous system that defines sound quality I think that would be forever.

I still get the shakes when I recall musical instruments I played at stores that were oh-so-wonderful but just a little north of my wallet's comfort zone. Science be damned.

+1 OP
It’s been empirically demonstrated countless times but deaf ears and closed minds cannot comprehend that basic statistics and common sense say otherwise. People are increasingly scrupulous about performance the more $ they invest, it’s not an automatic placebo. When they claim what we hear is stepping over the common sense line.  I highly suspect either their systems are not transparent enough, their hearing is not as acute, or their conclusions are colored by their expectations.

But, as always they’ll never go away. Best to ignore and focus on good things like music.

I was talking to my one of my musician family members about her issues with live sound.  Most of them were cleared up after proper placement of mic with respect to speakers so as not to induce feedback.  You would be surprised how many people w/o a physics background struggle with these things.  She being a lifelong educator and artist and all.  I then suggested she not use a guitar amp for her miked saxaphone.  The conversation ended.