WARNING Re Tweeter Grill

[Jamington2004]

I agree audio impressions remains always very subjective, you always tend to hear what you see, and blind test with a panel of trained ears followed by statistic analysis is the only way. This is how it is done at EBU to evaluate audio algorithms. (see here )

My own experience doing A/B tests is that you get a better analysis doing longer listening sessions of test tracks, than quick A/B switching. This is in par with the article you quote.

The fact that you can never compare audio side by side - as you can do with a print - is probably part of its mysterious intangible beauty.

I've been playing that game many times in the studio, and everyone being truly honest about it has to admit that you get fooled more than once. For example that day when you add a tiny bit of EQ to that guitar and are so pleased with the result ... until you realize that you turned the button on the wrong channel of the mixing desk

Another interesting thing I tried with a couple of sound engineers was to compare how you'd set up an EQ on one track with or without looking at the actual EQ curve on the screen. Well guess what, when we could look at the curve, we all did it different. Obviously influenced by how the curve looked to our eyes

I'll keep you posted if I ever try a serious blind test, but I tend to get lazy these days since I happily  ditched my high efficiency horn active DIY setup in favor of Phantom.
Removing that grid was probably the only tweak left ... I couldn't help trying

Really interesting to hear the honest opinion of a professional.....I find it intriguing, and I guess its how Hifi Manufacturers get away with so much foo. The better safe than sorry effect

I see your point on longer tests - but then the longer it goes, the more other factors could come into it? Things sound different for me depending on my state of mind / weather / day of the week etc....... so how can we eliminate these factors?

Tricks of the ear I guess are the same as tricks of the eye, only maybe in reverse........ where you swear you didn't see something but it was pretty glaringly obvious. Our brains just dont always process the image as we would expect. A la - "There is definitely no milk in the fridge love.....come and look for yourself if you like?"......."Oh......."
Anyway - thanks for the anecdotes and glad we are still friends