[vegasdave]

Hi All

One question I have been meaning to ask many of you is how you feel about reviews and reviewers in general.

Do magazines like Stereophile and Absolute Sound still sway your decisions or do you place more credence in 'user reviews'?

james

I don't rely on reviews very much anymore. The two magazines you mentioned come across as little more than advertising brochures.

Once most reviewers started talking about fancy wire, power cords, bingobongo disks, holy water, and all that stuff in every review, I decided they didn't have much to offer to me. It's very widespread, and at this point I just don't even bother reading most reviews.

On audio electronics, I am finding that I lean closer and closer to Peter Aczel's point of view as given in The Audio Critic. (I wish that David Rich was still actively reviewing equipment at TAC. His reviews were always very interesting.)

I used some Bryston equipment years ago in the studio, and seeing how well it held up is more persuasive than 1000s of reviews anyway.

Well, PA has a lot of good points and he's always said good things about Bryston. However, do you think he has a schtick just the same, but from the objectivist point of view?

I personally like writers who combine both subjective and objective points of view.

[turkey]

Well, PA has a lot of good points and he's always said good things about Bryston. However, do you think he has a schtick just the same, but from the objectivist point of view?

What he says essentially is that audio electronics is a solved problem. There are plenty of capable engineers out there that can design electronics that are good enough that they are not the problem.

The problems are recordings, speakers, and listening rooms. You can't really do much about the recordings in most cases. With a bit of effort, you can get your listening room pretty well straightened-out. That leaves the speakers.

I don't think this is the place to discuss speakers, but I do feel that there are some very capable speakers out there for not that much money.

I personally like writers who combine both subjective and objective points of view.

Objective reviews are those where attention is paid to test results that show what the equipment is actually doing. Some sort of blind testing protocol is also essential to keep things fair.

Subjective reviews are essentially fiction.

[vegasdave]

Interesting...

[SHV]

Once most reviewers started talking about fancy wire, power cords, bingobongo disks, holy water, and all that stuff in every review, I decided they didn't have much to offer to me.
********
I stopped reading audio mags. when that started reviewing "rocks" and CD degaussers.  Back on the tube era and transition to sold state, I remember reading what I considered "real" reviews.  Ad dollars and Bose vs Consumer's  Union put a real damper on product devaluation.

Also cable reviews finally did me in.   5-6 years ago, a friend gave me about eight "high" end (expensive) cables that he had gotten from a friend in the "business".  I took them apart and several very well know brands had sloppy soldering and a few had cold solder joints.  I also took apart some of the "wonder" boxes that several had..They contained a few cheap resistors and caps that were connected so that they had no function, at least with the laws of physics of our universe.

Steve                                   

[Tyson]

If anyone ever published a negative review, they'd have a lot more credibility with consumers.  The problem is that audio is dominated by small manufacturers, and a bad review can kill their business.  I know if I were a reviewer, I wouldn't want to be responsible for contributing to the demise of someone's livelihood.

[Zero]

I must admit that I do get a kick outta how the reviewing gig works.

On one hand (as Tyson points out), a bad review can easily put a dent in a manufacturers sales volume. 

On the other hand, a good review, even if sourced from the likes of Stereophile, TAS, etc... , rarely produce the kind of measurable impact one would think they would have.

Most manufacturers know this. Subsequently, you would think there would be little incentive for them to pursue formal reviews. After all, why run the risk? Especially when it's clear that A) there is a good chance that even a glowing review wont bring you a large immediate return on your investment, and B) many of today's audiophiles cast off reviews as "just one man's opinion" at best, and "entertainment fodder/bird cage liner" at worst. Yet after all is said and done, I feel that reviews still have their place and still have their impact.

What it ultimately boils down to is product exposure and credibility. It's funny how so many people will refuse to touch a product that is not well reviewed. These are often from the same people who continually lament about reviews and the reviewers who write them. Yet at the end of the day, most of us are consumers who are all looking for the same thing: a product with a solid reputation for quality and performance. We want to be confident in whatever we invest our money into, and reviews help to establish that confidence. Whether or not an individual review will be responsible for your making the purchase is one thing, but I personally feel that its a lot better to have a few formal reviews to go by than to have nothing at all.

[Viajero5000]

I think that while one review will not significantly bump sales, if a company consistently gets good reviews on its products over a number of years, it certainly helps build its reputation and perception in the market place. Although a review may not prompt a reader to run out and immediately buy the product, it certainly has a persuasive impact on consumers when they?re in the market and sitting on the fence over a particular product.

[1oldguy]

I see someone is after  my title lol.
James you could never be old.

Hi laundrew,

There are many people saying that print magazines are on their way out or at least a major house cleaning.

I'm an old guy so I still like the hard copy of my music as well as my reading material but I realize the 'times they are a changing'

james

[vegasdave]

Has there even been a negative review of a Bryston product?

[gerald porzio]

When was the last negative review of ANY product? Gotta keep the ad revenue wheels greased.

[Steven Stone]

I've never written a totally positive review in 30 years of writing.

I've never written a completely negative review either.

These kind of "reviews" are for a black and white world when, in plain fact, the world is gray.

A "good" review explains the positives and negatives of a product so that a prospective owner can see if the product is appropriate for them. No product is perfect and there is always some way in which a product could be improved.

It was said about cars, but is equally appropriate about audio gear, "There's an ass for every seat." Translation - almost every piece of gear has an ideal owner/user who will both enjoy and find the product ideal for their needs. A reviewer's job is to help the process of mating asses with seats.

[SF]

I've never written a totally positive review in 30 years of writing.

I've never written a completely negative review either.

These kind of "reviews" are for a black and white world when, in plain fact, the world is gray.

Agree.

Although a review sounds positive, the negative aspects are typically somewhere between the lines or in the measurements etc. I don't have time to audition every piece of equipment when I am shopping. I rely heavily on the reviews.

Besides, at this stage of the game, I have learned much from well-written reviews and the correlation of sound with actual measurements in a good review, for me to complain about reviewers.

There must be a reason we all applaud positive reviews of Bryston.

[vegasdave]

It's not the ultimate in demos, but a trip to CES should be on every audiophile's list of things to do.