Musicians judge loudspeakers on different rationales and can be inconsistent raters.

Evidence

There was an overall pattern of preference in the global “gestalt” sound quality ratings, but it was surprising to note that the two musicians in the listener population were quite inconsistent, at times liking the products rated lowest by the majority. It has subsequently been shown that this is a real phenomenon. Musicians who are not also audio enthusiasts may make judgments on very different rationales, including “musically valid” interpretations of instrument sounds. Their perspectives on instrumental sounds are different from those of concert attendees. Unfortunately, they may also suffer from hearing loss, which is an occupational hazard. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 72

Categorization

• QUESTION: What exactly is a ‘musically valid’ interpretation of an instrument sound and how does it diverge from a listener-preference judgment? Worth chasing the cited follow-up studies.
• XREF: Connects to listener-education debates in audio reviewing and blind-testing methodology, and to the golden-eared-audiophile literature on expert listeners.