Editing High fidelity (section)

== Listening tests ==
{{See also|Codec listening test}}
Listening tests are used by hi-fi manufacturers, audiophile magazines, and [[audio engineering]] researchers and scientists. If a listening test is done in such a way that the listener who is assessing the sound quality of a component or recording can see the components that are being used for the test (e.g., the same musical piece listened to through a tube power amplifier and a solid-state amplifier), then it is possible that the listener's pre-existing biases towards or against certain components or brands could affect their judgment. To respond to this issue, researchers began to use [[Blinded experiment|blind tests]], in which listeners cannot see the components being tested. A commonly used variant of this test is the [[ABX test]]. A subject is presented with two known samples (sample ''A'', the reference, and sample ''B'', an alternative), and one unknown sample ''X,'' for three samples total. ''X'' is randomly selected from ''A'' and ''B'', and the subject identifies ''X'' as being either ''A'' or ''B''. Although there is no way to prove that a certain methodology is [[Transparency (data compression)|transparent]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Spanos, Aris|year=1999|title= Probability Theory and Statistical Inference |publisher= Cambridge University Press |page=699 |isbn= 0-521-42408-9}}</ref> a properly conducted double-blind test can prove that a method is ''not'' transparent.

Blind tests are sometimes used as part of attempts to ascertain whether certain audio components (such as expensive, exotic cables) have any subjectively perceivable effect on sound quality. Data gleaned from these blind tests is not accepted by some audiophile magazines such as ''[[Stereophile]]'' and ''[[The Absolute Sound]]'' in their evaluations of audio equipment. [[John Atkinson (music editor)|John Atkinson]], current editor of ''Stereophile'', stated that he once purchased a solid-state amplifier, the Quad 405, in 1978 after seeing the results from blind tests, but came to realize months later that "the magic was gone" until he replaced it with a tube amp.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/705awsi |date=2005-07-17 |author=John Atkinson |title=Blind Tests & Bus Stops}}</ref> Robert Harley of ''The Absolute Sound'' wrote, in 2008, that: "...blind listening tests fundamentally distort the listening process and are worthless in determining the audibility of a certain phenomenon."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.avguide.com/forums/blind-listening-tests-are-flawed-editorial?page=2 |author=Robert Harley |title=Blind Listening Tests are Flawed: An Editorial |publisher=The Absolute Sound |date=2008-05-28 |access-date=2011-09-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930084747/http://www.avguide.com/forums/blind-listening-tests-are-flawed-editorial?page=2 |archive-date=2011-09-30 }}</ref>

Doug Schneider, editor of the online Soundstage network, argued the opposite in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goodsound.com/editorial/200905.htm |author=Doug Schneider |title=The Misinformed Misleading the Uninformed – A Bit About Blind Listening Tests |publisher=GoodSound! |date=2009-05-01 |access-date=2011-09-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.goodsound.com/editorial/200906.htm |author=Doug Schneider |title=A Bit More About Blind Listening Tests (6/2009) |publisher=GoodSound! |date=2009-06-01 |access-date=2011-09-29}}</ref>  He stated: "Blind tests are at the core of the decades' worth of research into loudspeaker design done at [[National Research Council (Canada)|Canada's National Research Council]] (NRC). The NRC researchers knew that for their result to be credible within the scientific community and to have the most meaningful results, they had to eliminate bias, and blind testing was the only way to do so." Many Canadian companies such as Axiom, Energy, Mirage, Paradigm, PSB, and Revel use blind testing extensively in designing their loudspeakers. Audio professional Dr. Sean Olive of Harman International shares this view.<ref>{{cite web|author=Dr. Sean Olive |url=http://seanolive.blogspot.com/2009/04/dishonesty-of-sighted-audio-product.html |title=The Dishonesty of Sighted Listening Tests |date=2009-04-09 |access-date=2011-09-29}}{{self-published inline|date=May 2020}}</ref>