Critics reject preference testing as mere taste, demanding realism or accuracy instead

Evidence

Perhaps the most persistent challenge is the belief that as long as the term “preference” is involved, the results merely reflect the likes, dislikes and tastes of an inexpert audience, not the analytical criticism of listeners who know what good sound really is. The assertion is that the objective should be “realism”, “accuracy”, “fidelity”, “truth” and the like, or even “resolving power”. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 1186

Categorization

• DEFINE: Frames the long-standing objection to subjective preference testing in audio engineering as a clash between preference-based and fidelity-based criteria.