In blind tests, Stradivarius violins lose to new ones.
Antonio Stradivari built around 1,100 instruments in Cremona between about 1666 and 1737; roughly 650 survive and now sell for millions. In double-blind tests from 2010 onwards, including one in Paris with 10 soloists, professionals mostly preferred new violins and couldn't reliably identify the old ones. The myth of an unmatched sound persists all the same.
Useful: A price measures rarity and legend, not necessarily quality, with violins as with wine.
Source: en.wikipedia.org