<blockquote>The violins were winnowed to six old and six new in a double-blind listening test judged by the soloists. Then, each of them donned dark goggles so they couldn’t distinguish the instruments by sight and tested out these top fiddles in two 75-minute sessions, one in a small room and one in a 300-seat auditorium. Soloists could also play their own instruments for comparison. After each session, the soloists picked his or her four favorites fiddles and rated them on scale of zero to 10 for qualities such as articulation, projection, and playability. Finally, after the second session, each subject had to guess whether instruments in a small selection that included some of their favorites were old or new.</blockquote>
via <a href="http://news.sciencemag.org/brain-behavior/2014/04/elite-violinists-fail-distinguish-legendary-violins-modern-fiddles">Elite Violinists Fail to Distinguish Legendary Violins From Modern Fiddles | Science/AAAS | News</a>.