Some notes. The study started with a pool of 13 new and 9 old instruments, and pre-selected down to the test set of the best 6 new and 6 old among these.
Among the test set, new instruments had a slightly higher average score than old ones, and the top two instruments were new. But all soloists picked a mix of new and old instruments in their top 4, and in the overall rankings new and old are well mixed. From high to low based on combined session scores, the list goes NNOONNOONONO.
Of the soloists, 7 prefer an old instrument for their performances, 2 a new one, and 1 switches between an old and new.
Some notes. The study started with a pool of 13 new and 9 old instruments, and pre-selected down to the test set of the best 6 new and 6 old among these.
Among the test set, new instruments had a slightly higher average score than old ones, and the top two instruments were new. But all soloists picked a mix of new and old instruments in their top 4, and in the overall rankings new and old are well mixed. From high to low based on combined session scores, the list goes NNOONNOONONO.
Of the soloists, 7 prefer an old instrument for their performances, 2 a new one, and 1 switches between an old and new.