Good binaural reproductions should allow the listener to suppress noise and reverberation as when listening in real life. An experiment was designed where room properties and reproduction techniques were varied in a way that allowed evaluation of noise and reverberation suppression based on speech intelligibility measurements. Artificial head recordings were compared to in-ear recordings and real life listening. Artificial head recordings were found to be equivalent to real life listening. The speech intelligibility for in-ear recordings surpassed real life listening. A possible explanation may be inaccurate equalization. The equalization is critical for correct reproduction of binaural cues. The procedure used is convenient for validation of the performance of recording and reproduction equipment intended for sound quality studies