Audiophiles...

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  • 05-30-2009, 08:03 PM
    bobsticks
    Out of curiousity RGA, have you ever been pressured to write a certain product review in a more positive light than originally intended because of business imperatives?
  • 05-31-2009, 03:11 AM
    Feanor
    Thanks, RGA, good advice
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RGA
    ...

    Feaner - Don't pay for the reviews - that is why there is dagogo, enjoythemusic, positive feback, soundstage, 6 moons, TNT and others.

    Good advice that I'll take.

    By and large the reviewers at these sites write relatively succinct reviews, (6 Moons is somewhat of an exception). I don't mind lots discussion of the equipment itself, the technology, the sound, but what I can't be bothered with are the seemingly endless personal history and anecdotes you get from so many reviewers notably at The Absolute Sound and Stereophile. I don't give a crap about what they did in there teenage years; what their wifes, kids, and neigbours do, what they drive, what they eat for breakfest, etc.

    Why are we burdened with this stuff? Is it literary pretension? What arrogance on the part of these reviewers to suppose we read them for literary content! :nonod: RGA, don't make that mistake in your own reviews.
  • 05-31-2009, 05:42 AM
    Ajani
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Feanor
    Good advice that I'll take.

    By and large the reviewers at these sites write relatively succinct reviews, (6 Moons is somewhat of an exception). I don't mind lots discussion of the equipment itself, the technology, the sound, but what I can't be bothered with are the seemingly endless personal history and anecdotes you get from so many reviewers notably at The Absolute Sound and Stereophile. I don't give a crap about what they did in there teenage years; what their wifes, kids, and neigbours do, what they drive, what they eat for breakfest, etc.

    Why are we burdened with this stuff? Is it literary pretension? What arrogance on the part of these reviewers to suppose we read them for literary content! :nonod: RGA, don't make that mistake in your own reviews.

    As much as I understand your point (and to some extent agree), you need to realize the TAS and Stereophile have regular readers who keep the mags going... Many of those regulars loving reading all that crap about what their favourite reviewer had for breakfast... they also enjoy reading about ultra-expensive audio porn... that's what keeps these mags in business... so they are unlikely to change their model...

    As RGA pointed out there are many free review sites (actually Stereophile and to some extent TAS are also free on the web)... and a whole lot of good sites that deal specifically with affordable gear...
  • 05-31-2009, 01:09 PM
    audio amateur
    I've never actually ever read a Stereophile review in a magazine, only on their website.
  • 05-31-2009, 07:58 PM
    RGA
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bobsticks
    Out of curiousity RGA, have you ever been pressured to write a certain product review in a more positive light than originally intended because of business imperatives?

    Personally I have not had any issue because I've only written 4 reviews so far and two of the products I bought which tells you that I like them a whole lot.

    But there have been issues in the press where a reviewer gave a negative review and the magazine pulled the review and had a different reviewer write something glowing. I believe Woochifer on this site knows about TAS doing this with a Wilson Audio Loudspeaker.

    My belief is not to go after a product in a review. For instance if I wrote a Paradigm 100V3 review it would be pretty negative as would a review of the Magnepan 20.1. Since I'm not a fan of certain kinds of gear I don't want them and I see no purpose to rain on people's parade (That's what forums are for :cornut: )

    Seriously some of it is a taste issue and my taste leads to SE amplifiers and higher efficiency speaker systems - and I believe in reviwing entire audio systems rather than individual components which have completely different characteristics across systems. Plus I aviod the issue that my amp can't drive X speaker or Y amp prefers a LE speaker with long throw woofers.

    Plus I can tell the reader more accurately about the sound of the company rather than the sound of a company's cd player's interaction with my gear - which if you do not own will be completely useless to you. Even the Grant Fidelity review was minus their speakers (they did not have speakers at the time) but it would have probably been a more helpful review.

    Edit: Not sure I have answered the question directly but no Constantine does not put pressure on us - for the most part the reviewers choose stuff they are relatively familiar with and like. Grant Fidelity was a bit of a risk because I had no prior dealings with them and I am often skeptical of big heavy amnplifiers that look pretty because it often indicates they're covering for something sonically. But for the price (which went down a grand to $4200) the Rita is a beast of an amplifier with a light enough touch to not become edgy or sterile.

    Reviewing is not so easy because there is a valid argument to be made that if brand A's cd player sounds poor in my system it may be true but it could work well in the next 10 systems. Ultimately though I felt I needed to be able to say pretty much what I wanted without getting it chopped and it came down to Dagogo and another magazine and it was an issue with one of the reviewers revolving around Rega's cd player that made me think that Constantine would stand behind the reviewer and let it go to print despite whatever fallout might occur.

    And to defend Stereophile a bit ( I used to get on them a lot) but they pointed out to me that 40% of their reviews come from non advertisors. The aforementioned Audio Note has never advertised with them and the writers feel free to say and buy stuff they like. But if you notice - just like reviewers at Dagogo they kind of review a select bunch of stuff they like or are just interested in. You don't see Art Dudley reviewing Paradigm anbd B&W because his taste is more like mine. While other writers there who like those speakers tend to review several models of them.

    If you want the lower priced reviews often listened to with a panel of reviewers and a chief reviewer blind level matched then Hi-Fi Choice (not What Hi Fi) is the one to explore. No personal history stuff.

    Feaner that would be the best magazine I could recommend to you - Affordable stuff - blind compared, level matched - several listeners (including manufacturers sitting in). It's not perfect getting a pooled answer sometimes, but there is some merit to it. You can request the magazine be shipped in from Chapters which is wha I had to do - kind of pricey at $12 or so but lots of colour print (unfortunately) drives the price up.

    They used to put their older issues online for free but stopped.
  • 06-01-2009, 05:58 AM
    Feanor
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RGA
    ....
    If you want the lower priced reviews often listened to with a panel of reviewers and a chief reviewer blind level matched then Hi-Fi Choice (not What Hi Fi) is the one to explore. No personal history stuff.

    Feaner that would be the best magazine I could recommend to you - Affordable stuff - blind compared, level matched - several listeners (including manufacturers sitting in). It's not perfect getting a pooled answer sometimes, but there is some merit to it. You can request the magazine be shipped in from Chapters which is wha I had to do - kind of pricey at $12 or so but lots of colour print (unfortunately) drives the price up.

    They used to put their older issues online for free but stopped.

    Hi-Fi Choice is pretty good and I can usually get it locally. It's a big bonus that their testing is blind although I'm their sure testing methods would fail scientific DBT criterion.

    The Brit mags, including 'Choice', What Hi-Fi, and Hi-Fi World all cover more lower-cost equipment. On the other hand a lot of it isn't available in Canada (certainly not around me). Compared to Stereophile (or say, 6 Moons) their reviews seem rather superficial, or at least the reporting is.

    By the way, I think you'll agree that Hi-fi+ is a handsome, glossy if pricey Brit mag with more in-depth reviews. I like the writing style better than TAS or 'Phile because it's articulate but more to-the-point. In fact '+' has probably more low & medium cost equipment than the Big Two U.S. mags, though again, a lot of it isn't locally available.
  • 06-01-2009, 07:46 AM
    RGA
    I think, after thinking it about it some, that generally lower cost equipment is not reviewed as much because the differences between low cost gear is not that great. A $500 integrated is pretty much the same as any other $500 integrated - especially SS. Speakers pretty much fall in line with this as well. I'd add Hi-Fi Critic to your list because there is a subjective element along with one of, if not the best, technical guys in the business writing for them - Martin Colloms.

    Then there is the site hifi-tunes.de out of Denmark - new to me. I think they're working on converting to English?? This kind of story approach to review I don't mind - (don't read if AN bothers you though http://www.audionote.co.uk/articles/..._Note_engl.pdf) I was there looking up a cartridge information and noticed this review magazine outfit. Quite a lot of them we've probably never heard of in the west.
  • 06-01-2009, 08:34 AM
    Ajani
    Good Points by RGA...

    Reviewers generally review what they feel like... This is often what leads to all kinds of claims of bias based on advertising...etc etc etc...

    The usefulness of reviews depends on whether you have similar tastes to the specific reviewer... In Stereophile, JA clearly loves items that measure well... KR loves gear with proper dynamic range (big solid state amps and big cone speakers)... AD could care less about measurements or dynamic range, he just cares about how it sounds to him (generally sweet, tubey, etc)... So if you have tastes similar to AD, then buying products based on glowing reviews from KR is a really bad idea...

    Also, HiFi Choice reviews are available for free online at:

    http://www.techradar.com/

    and What HiFi? reviews are available for free online at:

    http://www.whathifi.com/
  • 06-02-2009, 11:49 AM
    O'Shag
    My post previously probably rubbed some people the wrong way, and I do understand.
    but hopefully, you got my drift, which was not to slam people for investing in expensive gear - I have a top class system myself.

    Perhaps I was having a rough day. There's been a lot of those lately. I have a company, and over the past several months, I've had to let very-valued employees go - sometimes with tears from them (and from me too). The latest and last layoff we had last week was devastating, where all but a skeleton crew of employees remain. The economy, such as it is, has had a dramatic effect on our customers - and we are fortunate that some of our customers are top marquis companies. But the giants are also falling - the majority of our customers are laying off people in droves and backing out of contracts, being concerned enough or in dire straits themselves.

    The devastation that's happening in the small business sector - trickle-down effect you might call it, is a factor in the economy that is being ovelooked.

    So, I am a little sensitive to promotion of excess at the moment.
  • 06-02-2009, 12:46 PM
    Auricauricle
    And I'll add Grammophone Mag to the pile....

    www.gramophone.co.uk
  • 06-02-2009, 12:50 PM
    Luvin Da Blues
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by O'Shag
    So, I am a little sensitive to promotion of excess at the moment.

    Well, still Luvin the Marsh gear my friend. No plans to swap these out anytime soon :thumbsup:
  • 06-10-2009, 03:47 PM
    O'Shag
    Stephen thanks for your private message mate. I did try responding to you but your mailbox was full. Its really great that your doing you finals and then back to beautiful Geneva! When you graduate and a few years from now you'll have a super killer cost-no-object system!

    My son (24) is getting presented his Masters degree in Epidemiology from UCLA (University College Los Angeles) this Friday and then on to Med School. I couldn't be more proud of him. I myself left school when I was thirteen and never attended college - so it means a lot to mean he graduated.

    By the way, don't forget to watch the epic race 24 hours of LeMans - Vingt-Quatre heures du Mans (French is rusty so I don't know if I have that right) this weekend. also, do you ever get a chance to watch Formula One?

    Cheers mate and well done you!