The Chicago Cello Society 's test had some good results. We learned something and it made us all more humble but not as humble as the goof who predicted the earthquake. The sound of an instrument is very subjective . Some cellists like a bright, brilliant sound, some like a dark, warmer sound. The room an instrument is played in can drastically change the sound of the instrument.
Some instruments sound great in a large hall with a lot of wood.
Put the same instrument into a small room with a carpet, and it closes up. An instrument not in proper adjustment can't be judged properly. A different bow can make a very big difference in the sound of an instrument. These are all things that cannot be computed in a test. While there are many new instruments that sound better than many old instruments, and vice versa, it is the individual instrument that sounds better or worse, not all of them as a group.