The question of test procedures still remains, for instance. There is obviously no setup that will satisfy everybody completely, and it may be significant that in the post-test questionnaire a number of listeners changed their minds and stated that the test conditions were not adequate, or admitted to reservations about them. All of these were Believers whose beliefs had not been borne out, but they can be expected to represent a large group of Audiophiles who will rush to deny the significance of this series of tests.
That statement goes to the heart of the matter. There is much psychology involved - the Believers cannot be swayed no matter what. Many will participate in designing the test and choosing the equipment as was done in this series of tests, but as soon as the evidence contradicts their belief system, they deem the test invalid. That is EXACTLY what happened when Secrets did a test for the audibility of exotic cables. The resident audiophile was steadfast in his belief that he could definitely pick out the Nordost Vahalla cables. He actually did WORSE than the non-audiophiles. Naturally, he back pedalled and claimed that surely the test was inadequate because he could not do better than chance (he did much worse than 50% correct).
It's like the old saying regarding 'faith' - For the believers, no amount of evidence is necessary and for the skeptics no amount of evidence will suffice.
In the end it's a personal preference kind of decision...buy what you want for whatever reason.
