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I think you'll be pleasantly surprised if you do a double blind ABX test.
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An ABX test is a method of comparing two kinds of sensory stimuli to identify detectable differences. A subject is presented with two known samples (sample A, the reference, and sample B, an alternative). Of these two samples, one is selected as the unknown sample (sample X), which the subject identifies as being either A or B. If sample X cannot be determined reliably with a low p-value in a predetermined number of trials, then the null hypothesis cannot be rejected and it cannot be proven that there is a perceptible difference between samples A and B.
They can easily be performed as double-blind trials, eliminating any possible unconscious influence from the researcher or supervising technician.
ABX tests are commonly used in evaluations of digital audio data compression methods; sample A is typically a lossless sample without any compression applied, and sample B is a compressed version of A. Audible compression artifacts that indicate a shortcoming in the compression algorithm can be identified with subsequent testing. ABX tests can also be used to compare the different degrees of fidelity loss between two different audio formats at a given bitrate.
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