do blind tests have any practical significance

Edartford, if the evaluation is completely subjective and therefore useless, why bother reading any reviews at all??

In medicine and in science in general the ONLY kind of test considered reliable is a double-blind test. Should listening tests of audio equipment be different? Perhaps it should because the "data" is completely subjective. But this means that the test results are completely useless, so why bother? Go listen.

In the sense that a double-blind test can be used to show that a difference is inaudible even to experts....YES this is very useful to separate hyperbole from the reality about the magnitudes of difference between components.

Given two pieces of equipment that do have an audible double blind statisticaly meaningful difference, then I am with Eldartford.....the "better" sounding piece of gear is a subjective matter...some want "accuracy" which involves science and test measurements...some want the nicest sound colored to their personal preferences!

Science has no place in our hobby. We know what we know and we don't need no book learnin'.

Science and test measurements do have a place in audio, but are only relevant to a small portion of audiophiles, a much higher preportion of manufatcurers (to help design, build and QC) and to a very high proportion of sound engineers/studios.

Pawlowski6132...Reviews tell us the features of the product, like balanced/unbalanced inputs, and some basic parameters, like power rating. This is mostly why I read reviews. On a very few occasions glowing descriptions of audio quality from several sources have caused me to seek out and audition a product. But I don't buy on the basis of reviews.

From a technical point of view (I am an engineer) I find JA measurements in Stereophile interesting. I often read these, but not the associated subjective evaluation. Besides, the stuff they choose to review is usually out of my price range anyway.

Eldarford; Although I agree with your approach, I think most people gather the specifications of products from the manufacturers websites and read reviews to find out, simply put, if the gear sounds any good since dealers aren't always available.

I just happened upon this quote this morning in the February 2007 issue of "The Absolute Sound". It's a review of the Mark Levinson No. 436 Power Amp by Sue Kraft:

"So it was with much anticipation that I awaited the arrival of the Mark Levinson reviews. I was also quite excited at the prospect of hearing how these $12,500, 350Wpc brutes would mate with the stellar imaging and accuracy of a loudspeaker like the B&W 800D. Would my decade long wait to finally hear a pair of Levinson amps in my system meet my expectations? At the risk of ruining the ending...I'm afraid I knew the answer to that question nearly straight out of the box, and have heard nothing in the months to follow that would change my mind."

Come on. How can anyone argue that blindfolding Sue and telling her to review this amp would not result in a more objective review????? Wouldn't that be more helpful to the above mentioned "typical" reader I mentioned????

i think the purpose of the thread is to suggest the advantage of evaluating the sound of a component in absence of any attitudes about the component before the audition.

one does not literally have to be in a dark room or wear a blindfold. i think it is sufficient to be sighted so long as the brand and model of the component is not known.

unbiased assessment reduces the likelihood of erroneus judgments.