I don't see blind testing as an end-all and be-all for determining preferences.

I see it more as determining differences between two items. All to often one hear about "night and day" differences between two disparately priced units and this is a good way to see just how defined that difference is. If one uses such hyperbole, it should stand up to a DBT, no?

I remember back in "the day", blind tests were useful in helping people determine which speakers they really liked as opposed to what they wanted to like, and it didn't always wind up being the more expensive, better reviewed ones. But, human nature being what it was, many times they went for the more expensive big name speaker. Gotta love human nature...