Where are the blind streaming quality tests?


I've been searching around for awhile now trying to find a good article/report on how many audiophiles on a decent system (at least $1000) can hear the difference between Apple Music and TIDAL and can reliably pick which one is "better sounding" in a blind test environment. It seems most blind tests I have found show that people really can't say one service sounds better than the others. But they often are using a <$100 audio setup. Many people on here claim that they can hear a huge difference between AAC and FLAC or MQA etc. but without any evidence or test results.

So I'll challenge everyone: get someone else to switch between lossless audio and compressed without your knowledge. Also have them sometimes just do a "fake switch" where they say they changed something but really kept playing the same thing. Or better yet use the NPR test online. Can you still reliably pick the lossless audio over multiple trials with a variety of music? Post which songs you used, if you guessed right on that track, and maybe a list of gear you used for your test. Let's see if we can get some real scientific results here!
mattlathrop

Showing 2 responses by nonoise

Agreed, unless your preferences and the reviewers are the same. Then you'd have a baseline to go by. Even then, what I got from the contrarian articles is that a person's preference is baked in, whether they admit it or not.

On another note, I loved the observation from Alan Watts which went something like: you can't judge a river by taking a bucket of water out and staring at it. Everything must be taken as a whole, or as best one can.

All the best,
Nonoise
I took the NPR test and did quite well, missing one. 

Here's one from cnbc done back in 2016:
https://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/05/hifi-music-streaming-services-people-cant-tell-it-when-they-hear-it.html

Here's also some contrary thoughts on the matter of blind listening tests:

https://www.audiostream.com/content/trouble-audio-tests
&
https://www.audiostream.com/content/blind-testing-golden-ears-and-envy-oh-my

The last two are not meant to start a flame war but intend to keep an open mind as to the supposed standards set by "objectivists" who, in the end, are just as subjective as anyone.

All the best,
Nonoise