Gold Standard of Stereo Loudspeaker Amplification and DAC?

[escksu]

It is entirely possible to accept a realistic "gold" standard that's grounded common sense and the nature of the industry even if your own personal standard does not align with it (preference curve studies are a good example of this).

No doubt its is possible to have a gold standard. After all, this "gold standard" is just something that is set by man, not laws of nature. However, the biggest problem is getting people to agree on what is considered gold standard. You need to have some governing body or authority etc to get people to agree on a gold standard.

I would say the double blind test could be almost considered "Goldmann method of audio".