Interesting bilind testing of Stradivarius Violin

"Just out of curiosity, what other vintage objects are considered superior to their modern equivalents? I don't mean more desirable or valuable, but actually better at their intended task."

McDonald's hamburgers (they keep shrinking), gas with led added to it, politicians, old records, Star Wars and the electric chair.

I'm sure that there are many other examples, but those are the ones that come to mind right away.

Photon46, thanks for providing the link to the article about the musician's perspective. She gives a good account of how many variables are involved and how it's not an either/or type question.

Schubert,

I'll wager that there wasn't a great deal of choice of syrup in the USSR during David's lifetime.

There are Strads that, history aside, have less value because they are lesser instruments.

Just as with the great "do cables make a difference"
or "can tweak XYZ make a difference" debates, there
will always be a personality type who will be predisposed to,
or lean towards believing, no matter the proof or testimony,
that the differences are mostly imagined. Even when
purporting to be evenhanded, distinctions such as
"realist vs romantic" are made that only highlight
the built-in bias and inability to respect (and potentially
learn from) someone else's experience or reality. I suppose
that they will never be completely convinced, but it is
interesting and telling that many of them are likely to be
more believing of the effects of audio tweaks, which they may
have direct experience with, than of things such as the
subject of this debate with which they probably don't.

One issue related to the subject of this thread which has not
been brought up relates to one that is often discussed within
music and musician circles: the phenomenon of the
homogenization of orchestral sound (orchestra to orchestra and
player to player). It is well recognized that orchestras have
been losing some of their distinctive sound personalities;
even in Europe where orchestras have traditionally played with
very strong and distinctive stylistic and "sound"
personalities. Clearly, a musical instrument is a means to an
end and a great virtuoso can, to a degree, express his/her
personality on an inferior instrument, but it should not be
difficult to understand how an environment which does not
nurture or accept musical individuality to the degree that it
once did would also result in modern instruments that,
likewise, have less personality. The two related trends (and
others such as the phenomenon of the jet-setting guest
conductor) feed off of each other and contribute to orchestras
and soloists who sound more and more alike. Is this
homogenization an indication of superiority?

Frog, of course not. musicians are not from Mars, like all
human beings and institutions they are being finely ground down to the interchangeable level required by Globalization ,aka late-stage Capitalism.