[throwaway64933]

"This study compares Stradivari and new violins principally from the listener’s perspective. Projection and preference are taken as the broadest criteria by which listeners might meaningfully separate violins in a hall. Which violins are heard better, and which are preferred? Also explored is the relationship between evaluations made by listeners and those made by players. Two separate experiments were conducted: one in the suburbs of Paris and the other in New York City. In Paris, violins were played with and without an orchestra by blindfolded soloists behind an acoustically transparent screen. The same was done in New York but without an orchestra.

The results are unambiguous: listeners found that new violins projected significantly better than those by Stradivari. Moreover, listeners preferred new violins over old by a significant margin. Although the listeners came from various professional backgrounds (they included musicians, violin makers, and acousticians), very similar results were obtained from all backgrounds. We find a strong correlation between projection with and without an orchestra. This correlation seems fortunate for both players and researchers, in that an orchestra is evidently not required to meaningfully test projection."

[...]

"Note that this study relied on soloists, whose primary need is to be heard over an ensemble. The vast majority of violinists, however, are required to blend into ensembles. Research is needed to clarify the relationship between projection and “blendability.” Less projecting violins could have the advantage in this regard."

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1619443114