Interesting controlled test from the BBC

[f1eng]

That is because flac is not good either...

Only if you apply religious levels of blind faith rather than fact.

I am sorry, irony is very difficult in writing.

I thought it was an interesting article and the people who listened seemed to be experienced listeners. I did not find out anything about the equipment used however, perhaps this would make a difference?

One of the reasons I don't post much here any more is that since I retired I have been doing the sort of rigorous listening tests I should, as an engineer, always have done but didn't have time until I retired.
The Devialet makes a bit of self evaluation easy because of the calibrated volume control.

If I set the volume at my normal listening level then turn the level down it is silent by the time I have turned it down 60dB. I know that what I am trying to hear is just quiet music not artefacts but I am quite sure that, were the music to be playing, I would have no chance of hearing artefacts as quiet as that - probably quite a bit louder given the masking effects.
I have done a rigorous test of 16/44.1 v 24/96 of the same master as well.
I can attest that when rigorously evaluated all the differences I thought I heard between 5 different DACs were not there.
I have done the same with 2 preamps.
-60dB is 0.1% which means a CD is indeed perfect for me, no improvement could be audible (by me). Even LPs are often below 0.1% distortion quite a bit of the time.

The things I could consistently hear differences due to were:-
Loudspeaker, listener and furniture position in the room.
All 4 of my record players sound different to each other.
Microphones themselves and their position relative to the musicians when I am recording.
The loudspeakers themselves.
I also think I hear differences between some power amps but that could be the effect of output impedance on speaker FR or clipping. Low feedback amps and valve amps are prone to the former and low power amps are useless for the sort of music I listen to.

This is a long winded way of saying I don't think the equipment the BBC will have used could be a genuine reason for the results based on my own experience.