Article: "Do Blind Listening Tests Work? My Sessions with the Colorado Audio Society"

Indeed biases are extensive and multidimensional complex phenomena as claimed rightfully by newton_ john ...

It is why it is so preposterous, out of specific scientific or engineering context   which study mass phenomenon of perception, to decide to eliminate some biases arbitrarily for a marketing ideological purpose in some audio thread (ASR objectivists)  instead of training ourselves to integrate  them by training our hearing in a specific working acoustical context ...

It is important to learn what are our biases  even using double blind test if possible; but it is way more important to train our hearing around specific concepts and experiments...

I agree I was being a bit simplistic with my use of bias. No doubt one has to be aware of their own internal and external biases to properly ascertain what they find unfavorable.  Beyond this, as stated above, we then have the unconscious biases, very doubtful we can always be mindful and/or even aware of our own unconscious biases.

So we have all these earlier stated  issues with double blind testing and on top of that the bias issue .In returning to how this pertains to audio, if one disregards all the subjective aspects and variables  involved in this audio endeavor one could engage in scientific inquiry to arrive at some objectively determined reference system/component. As for myself and I suppose for most if not all, this audio endeavor is not like some pharmaceutical that could save my life. I don't need or care about some rigorous peer approved double blind study to provide evidence that my chosen audio system and/or components may or may not be objective references. My audio system/placebo makes me feel good, and I'm not going to suffer a single bit knowing its only a placebo.

@sns 

Does a single reference system exist? Well no,  but there are many that are really close. 

Some folks and companies are trying to reproduce the real thing and some are trying to make really great sounding audio systems. Very different goals. 

I personally, and a few high end audio companies are attempting to reproduce real music. I / they work to educate ourselves about what the real thing sounds like. That takes time and effort. But it is something that you can close in on. Not some unobtainable thing. Listening to you, we would never try to do anything... we are so flawed and biased at every level. Among my training and professional positions has been a scientist and engineer. I have learned how to get better and better at something. I am fascinated by complex questions like this. People learn to read chest X-rays and MRAs, they look like fuzz to the novice and instantly understandable to a the trained eye.

We learn by exposure to the real thing and many different systems that are trying to achieve the real thing. I can tell you my system and the components produced by companies attempting to achieve the real thing are leagues beyond where they were decades ago. That is the way progress.

I'm just not the type that throws up my hands and says, it's too hard... we are all biased, there is no reference. This is why I got season tickets to the symphony for over a decade, and sampled as many concerts and listened to individual instruments when I could. To build an internal reference. 

It's like our taste in partners - there's really no accounting for it.

@ghdprentice I'm in total agreement with you. I've played in bands and heard many non-amplified, non- sound reinforced concerts, From this I can recall the many qualities of what we refer to as 'natural' sound. So from this 'reference' I can ascertain and/or compare my audio system/components. And I agree audio systems/components should be designed and compared to this 'reference' or live sound as I previously stated. Thing is, assuming many of us, if not most of us likely use this same reference why is it that each of us likely have entirely unique systems/components in attempting to conform with that reference? It seems many are entirely happy with their chosen system/components, and this with systems so widely divergent. I cannot fathom how there could ever be an objective reference audio system or limited number of systems for such a widely divergent species.