THE LIBRARY
The gym has a library.
In 1757 David Hume wrote Of the Standard of Taste and named the five things a true judge needs: delicacy, practice, comparison, freedom from prejudice, and good sense. He never got to measure any of them. We built the machines. These pages explain each criterion, the instrument that operationalizes it, and the methodology — including the claims we deliberately refuse to make.
Why this exists
The argument the reading rests on, with the weakest step marked.
What is the Prestige Test?
The flagship machine: how far can a famous name move your ratings?
Freedom from prejudice
Hume's fourth criterion — the one the flagship machine measures.
Delicacy of taste
Machine 02: can your ears find the key in the wine?
Naming what went wrong
You can hear that it is wrong. Here is what it is called.
Practice
The premise of the whole gym: judgment improves with reps.
Comparison
Eleven degrees are on offer. How many did you actually use?
The Ranking Test
A critic ranked six works. Do your gaps fall where his did?
Good sense
Do you know when you're right? That's measurable too.
Methodology
The measurement design, stated plainly — including what we refuse to claim.
Enough reading — the machines are through here.
The Prestige Test
How far a famous name moves what you hear.
The Delicacy Trials
One clip of each pair is quietly damaged. Find it, then name what is wrong.
The Threshold Test
The smallest flaw you can still hear, in cents, milliseconds or kilobits.
The Ranking Test
Six works a critic ranked. Whether your gaps fall where his did — never whether you agree.