I know that traditional A/B comparison tests are wonky and iffy, to say the least, but there's one thing about these tests that is starting to intrigue me: It is one thing to not catch any audible difference between two components in the blindfold A/B test situation (the 'false negative' situation), but what's with the 'false positive' scenarios? What I mean by that is when the person conducting the test pretends to be swapping components, while actually not touching anything, leaving it exactly as it is. Then, upon playing the same track back again, he hears that the participants are all of a sudden noticing big differences in sound from the previous playback!
Have you ever been through that humiliating experience? I have, and it is quite unnerving. But how does it work, and why would our ears trick us in that way?
