[rustydoglim]

Some people have been asking us why there are so few reviews on the 9 series (DAC-9, STA-9, HPA-9) products.
A lot of reviewers are fair and honest. So this is not a post about the quality of reviews.  Some of you know what reviews are all about, but many still don't. So here are something often not talk about with regard to reviews.

How to read a review?
Magazines in general don't publish overly negative reviews. If a product is not good, they won't publish the review. If it is just ok, you can read between the line from the review. But if you get an award (well, you will find awards in just about every sub categories ), the product is pretty good. And if you get Product Of The Year award, then that's a very good endorsement.

How does a magazine choose a product for review?
Lets not pretend that a magazine is non profit. If you advertise, you get priority in the queue for review. But that doesn't mean you will get good review.  A magazine has a limited # of slots for each advertisers so when a rare company like NuPrime comes up with so many good products, it is difficult to get review for all products. Lets be realistic, we got four Product Of The Year Awards in 2015, Editor Choice, Golden Year in our first year of existence as NuPrime, and this is already unprecedented in high-end audio history. Right after that we came out with the 9 series. To be fair, we have to wait our turn for reviews.  And I heard that it is coming out but I have no idea what they would say.  For all these years, we never lobby for a good review. This is unethical and it crosses the line.  Come on, we have audiocircle.com and other forums for users to offer their comments, and some of the users are just as good as reviewers. You can't fake it.  If you wonder why we don't have reviews on Stereophile, not that we don't like the magazine or have anything against it, we just don't have the budget.

Cheap products get less reviews.
Well, really cheap good products hardly get magazine reviews because the economic just doesn't work. Take the $99 Encore mDSD for example, we don't want to waste our valuable "review chance" for such a low price but good product. So there you go, you pay for the cost of review, trade show, ad, 24x7 phone service, and whatever in the price of the product.  Someone asked me recently about why we don't demo HPA-9 at all the headphone meets and shows. At $649, how many units do we have to sell to make up for the expense? Too many that it won't work. 

Our approach.
We do a fair amount of reviews to let people know that we have very good products. But more importantly, we price our products low enough that people can try it at home, and return if they don't like it. We rarely do trade shows these days. The hotel room acoustic is bad, and people can get better experience by trying products at home.

[Eisener Bart]

I have a dream. (c)   

I would like to review ALL NuPrime products.
2 items already were done. 

Problems?
Not with my time. I can product 3-4 reviews monthly without any issues.
Availability of devices in stock in Ukraine.
For example - absence of ST-10. I can't continue my Saga about NuPrime's Power Amps.

[Eisener Bart]

Disregard my previous post.
----  ---
I have a dream. (c)   

I would like to review ALL NuPrime products.
2 items already were done. 

Problems?
Not with my time. I can product 3-4 reviews monthly without any issues.
Availability of devices in stock in Ukraine.
For example - absence of ST-10. I can't continue my Saga about NuPrime's Power Amps.

My dealer who supplied me already 10 various devices of different brands for reviewing since summer 2015 isn't magician.
I need 3-4 weeks for device, and I can understand that it's not suitable for him to give me device which he has only 1 piece in his shop! He could arrange 2 devices of Nuprime (God bless him!) during last 3 months.

[JLM]

Good post!

Seems to me you are being rather generous with the magazines. 

I recall only reading one truly negative review (maybe 15 years ago) and they published the vendor reply which really made him look bad.  It took years for that vendor to recover (lost his primary suppliers) but he's still in business (after changing names and reinventing his offerings somewhat).  It probably scared advertisers away from the e-magazine but did serve as a good public notice for all concerned.  With all the factors involved in audio, it's much harder to prove a product is "bad" than another product is "good". 

IMO there's lots of very good gear out there, unfortunately the bulk of the attention goes to the most expensive that may not sound any better.  The extra money goes into advertising, bigger/gaudier cabinets, egos, and profits.  Obviously these are attributes that NuPrime, a value oriented company, isn't guilty of. 

For me trade shows are for seeing the product in the flesh, vetoing poor products/vendors, and hopefully meeting "the man".  Too often the (high value) product I'm interested in is frustratingly on "permanent" static display.  And yes, hotel rooms aren't the best environments for listening, but I'm constantly amazed that vendors don't invest more effort/time into preparing for the shows, to make the best presentation possible.  Instead it appears that they come rushing in at the last minute with a hundred excuses.  Why would anyone want to buy from that kind of company?

[Guy 13]

Excellent post, makes lots of sense.

Guy 13
on planet Vietnam.

[dB Cooper]

Some random general thoughts about "reviews":

In the Internet era, anybody can be a reviewer. All you need is a decently designed website. You don't have to have the credibility or resources to sustain a print operation (the journalistic equivalent of brick-and-mortar. More and more of the"Reviews" I see referred to in various companies' advertising seem to fall into this category. Some nerd with a stereo fetish and a good command of adjectives figures out how to monetize it and the manufacturer whose product is getting reviewed gets a nice colorful quote that they can put in a box on their own website.


But what credibility does the reviewer have? What makes their opinions, experiences, or viewpoint any more valuable than yours or mine? Often nothing. Few if any do any kind of objective testing the way, say, Stereophile does because that takes equipment and a big budget. You can challenge a fact, or a measurement, but you can't really challenge an opinion because there's no way to prove or disprove it. It's just the reviewer's experience. It seems like a great racket, getting paid to listen to expensive stereo equipment. And people often take such reviews seriously, because, hey, this guy's got a website.

There is one manufacturer who used to have, shall we say, an adversarial relationship with absolute sound. Never had anything good to say about them. Now that they are getting reviews in the magazine though, they are suddenly being presented as an authority by the same manufacturer. Reminds me a boxing promoter Bob Arum, who, when presented with a gross contradiction he had made, said "Yesterday I was lying, today I'm telling the truth." Absolute sound has no credibility when they ignore you, but they're suddenly an "authority" when they start giving you  good reviews. There is a lot of manipulation around the review process on both sides.


I look at word-of-mouth, a company's track record, measurements and specs if there are any, and only then do I pay any attention to reviews, and then I take all of the above with a grain of salt. For instance, I currently have in my possession an audioquest Dragonfly Black portable headphone amp/DAC. It got glowing reviews on a lot of web review sites. I don't like it. It sounds 'etched' and hard to me. But some guy on some website (actually, several guys on several websites) said it was great. I didn't see any data, just a lot of opinions. To me, quality reviews provide a certain degree of both- and more importantly, how they relate to each other. An example of someone I considered a good example of this is Tyll Hertsens of Innerfidelity.

But remember, If all they have is epinions, take those with large doses of salt, because opinions are like assholes-everyone has one and they all stink.

[smk]

I think the unspoken thing about reviews is that they are the reviewers opinion, only. How many times have you read a review & listened to only to reject in your system because it didn't meet your needs.

Yes, they are needed to get the word out about a unique product you would probably otherwise would ignore.

And when is the last time you saw a negative review of anything?

[dB Cooper]

I think the unspoken thing about reviews is that they are the reviewers opinion, only. How many times have you read a review & listened to only to reject in your system because it didn't meet your needs.

Lots. Always buy with a return option.

[Phil A]

Also not noted is that reviewers do receive accommodation sales. It is just human nature to lean towards those things where they have a standing relationship with the manufacturer.  If one looks at reviews, often the reviewer has reviewed past models of the manufacturer and has them in their personal system.  Given the fact that a publication can't review everything out there along with a preference for advertisers and reviewers who have a history of receiving accommodation sales, it doesn't leave room for a vast majority of new products from other manufacturers.

[Letitroll98]

I like reading reviews to get product information like controls, features, input/outputs, etc.  With these you can figure the reviews generally get it right.  On another level I also enjoy reading the subjective parts of the review because I value others opinions.  So like many things in life, you just have to keep it in perspective.  It's stuff some guy is writing down on paper, (or the net) for various motivations.

[Eisener Bart]

Actually solution is simple.

Just find YOUR reviewers. Who has similar ears and brains.

For me two persons always were as light-house. Because when I've read their reviews about products which I bought later or even before it (!) and matching of our opinions could reach impressive 80-90%.

[Randy Myers]

I research and read everything I can about a product while considering various products in a category.  But, as often as not I am first introduced to a product by word of mouth.  Some times by a review, but I never have purchased an item from a review alone.

Take for example my last two purchases.  First the Sennheiser HD 800S.  I wanted a solid flagship type headphone.  Comfort was utmost importance.  I  talked with some forum buddies and got their take.  One who has over 50 sets of headphones gave me a low rating and then he contacted me and retracted it saying he had not listen to his HD 800 for a long while and after talking to me pulled them back out.  Another gave a rave review, although he mentioned some other brands to consider.  Then I read everything I could find and found almost 100% universal praise.  Also, the only complaints most people in the forums agreed were addressed in the new model.  So after reading as much as I could find the choice became very clear to me.

Now the NuPrime.  I started this adventure thinking I wanted to replace my pre-amplifier and DAC into a combined unit for convenience and ease of use.  I also wanted the capabilities of a high end headphone amplifier because recently, for my wife and grand daughter's consideration I was under the belief that a good set of cans was in order.  I started this journey after reading a review in TAS on the Mytec Brooklyn.  Good review, but it seemed to me that it might have been a bit reserved.  Not a full throat endorsement.  So I asked some audio forum friends.  One suggested the NuPrime.  He owns a DAC-10 and he also owns the same pre-amplifier that I had, and until recently had the same DAC that I had.  He is also one of the people that other forum members go to for opinions.  So I took his recommendation of the NuPrime seriously.  He had also suggested another brand that I discount after a few minutes of research.

I did a lot of research on the DAC-10H and comparisons to the Mytec, etc.  Read everything I could find.  The thing that struck home for me was not only the great comments on the DAC integration and high praise of the headphone amplifier, but more importantly was the discussions on the pre-amplifier section.  Then I found TAS full review and Product of the Year 2015 rating and I said hmmmm.... So I pulled out my Editor's Choice issue to see if it was included.  To my surprise not only was it given a 2016 Editor's Choice Award but it was listed under the pre-amplifier section.  Then my buddy said you can try it for 30 days so what do you have to loose.

Compared to the Mytec, the DAC-10H had a lot more praise of it's pre-amplifier section (and most important the resistor ladder volume section).  Since this was going to be the main control unit for my system, feeding into my Son of Ampzilla II amplifier I considered this very important.  Also the the number of inputs.  Offering two analog inputs was very important.  Since I am going to be running my Marantz SA-CD player through one I wanted to make sure there was an extra in case I wanted to hook up something else (possible turntable down the road). 

And then I researched the balanced headphone section.  Since by this time I had pretty much decided on the HD 800 S I wanted to make sure the unit had a balanced configuration.

After receiving the unit and giving some initial listens and tests I had one question, or small concern if you will.  I was a little taken aback by not being able to call and get someone from the company on the phone.  However this concern was dealt with in short order when I received an e-mail from Jason.  He believed he had the correct answer but more importantly he consulted with his engineers and got back to me.  Now that is good care and obviously shows great pride in your company.  And honestly that checked the last box for me so to speak.  Quality products and good customer support.  This shows an honestly to goodness old time pride in what you do.

So far I have been very pleased with just about everything in the DAC-10H.  And I especially like the metal remote control ....  Anyway, hopefully this was not too long or too boring.  I just wanted to give the idea of the process I went through from discovery of the brand to the purchase decision to true appreciation for the quality of the product!

[johzel]

Lots. Always buy with a return option.

I like that idea.  Especially in a day when brick and mortars are disappearing and we're left to make purchasing decisions based upon reviews and opinions from others . . .

[rajacat]

Can it be that there are shills on AC? I've always wondered if vendors could just have their friends or fanboys post over-the-top reviews as a way of marketing a device. Another thing that I've noticed is that vendors value face time, in other words, time at the head of Latest Updates. Such extraneous posts as "What kind of music do you like on your xxx turntable, amp or whatever serve the function of keeping the item in the current discussion.

[smk]

Why do reviewers change system about as often as I cross legs. How does reviewer know what their system sounds like? I know they're trying for better sound, but cut me a break.

[Devil Doc]

Reviews are only a place to start. The rest is up to you and your ears.

Doc

[thunderbrick]

Reviews are only a place to start. The rest is up to you and your ears.

Doc

Yep.

[Early B.]

I rely much more heavily on actual consumer "reviews." That's why forums like AC and Audiogon are so vital.

[*Scotty*]

There have been over a 100 Billion burgers sold by McDonalds, popularity does not confer superiority.
One must test something firsthand, all else amounts to opinion.
Scotty

[Early B.]

There have been over a 100 Billion burgers sold by McDonalds, popularity does not confer superiority.
One must test something firsthand, all else amounts to opinion.
Scotty

Of course testing firsthand is ideal, but with high end audio, it's practically impossible for most of us to test out equipment on our own systems. That usually requires buying it first. So we tend rely more heavily on reviews.

I know some of you guys have deep pockets, but many of us are typical lower or middle class workers. I gotta sell something before I can buy something else.