This is a good overview and there's more to it than the headline. It talks about other theories, such as the possibility that a Stradivari isn't actually better:
Exemplary
This is a good overview and there's more to it than the headline. It talks about other theories, such as the possibility that a Stradivari isn't actually better:
In fact, a 2012 double-blind study of 21 experienced violinists found that most of the subjects preferred playing the newer instruments; the Stradivarius ranked last in their preferences. Most of them couldn't tell the difference between the old and new instruments, with no significant correlation between an instrument's age and its monetary value. "Rather than searching for the 'secret' of Stradivari, future research might best be focused on how violinists evaluate instruments, on which specific playing qualities are most important to them, and on how these qualities relate to measurable attributes of the instruments, whether old or new," the authors concluded.
This is a good overview and there's more to it than the headline. It talks about other theories, such as the possibility that a Stradivari isn't actually better: