The reason most mags never truly pan a piece of equipment is that they'd rather devote review space to the good products. Or so they say.
There is a lot of truth to what you say. In contrast though, in recent years, equipment has come a long way. With the advent of China's economy and better quality assurance, coupled with their ability to access to quality materials, the costs of equipment have come down, while (perceptable) quality of sound has gone up. In turn, manufacturers worldwide have raised the bar. This is a case where the industry listened to comments from users and reviews and made the gear sound better.
Remember not too long ago when DVD players used as CD players was unheard of because of their horrid sound? Now, you've got guys (me included) who are using pieces like the $125 Pioneer universal players in their systems as sources. Does it sounds as good as some multi-thousand dollar unit? No. Does it sound decent? You bet it does, otherwise I (and others) wouldn't use it.
It's really tuff finding a truely bad sounding piece of gear out there anymore. In turn a reviewers job is to accurately describe how it sounds to them. Here, bias absolutely comes into play (at least with me).
There is no doubt that if I searched, I could find a crappy sounding piece of gear to review. But in finding that gear that begs the question, Why would I want to review it?
Let me use the car rental analogy. Assume you are a very sucessful business person that travels constantly. At home you drive a Lexus, Cadillac, Lincoln or some other luxury car. When you go out on the road and stop at Enterprise Rentals, you can rent anything you wish, money doesn't matter. Would you ever find yourself renting a four cylinder Pontiac Sunfire? Highly doubtful. You would stick to the luxury class autos because it has those features and the ride that you enjoy. If Enterprise were out of luxury class cars, you would probably walk down the concourse to Hertz or Avis until you found something you liked.
As a reviewer, I go out and find my own gear to review, things that interest me. As I understand it, not all magazines work this way though. Since I have that freedom, I (personally) gravitate towards things I pre-determine might sound good and may be of interest to others. I call the manufacturer and we talk about the design and features of a given piece of gear. At that point, I make a determination whether I am interested in reviewing that piece of gear, again based upon my pre-determinations and bias.
After listening to so many pieces of gear of differing designs (and knowing a bit about design and how individual pieces and parts sound myself), I end up with a relatively narrow focus. The last thing that I want to do is end up with a piece of gear that I don't like and am now forced to live with for several months.
Personally, I feel life is too short for that kind of self induced abuse. Add to that, I don't get paid enough for a review to put up with something I don't care for. If it makes me dread listeing to one of the true loves of my life (music), I don't want any part of it.
When I run across that odd piece of gear, do I review it and trash it? Most often the answer is no. Right here at this point is where sujectivity comes into play. Just because I don't like a piece of gear does not mean that others don't love it and that it doesn't perform well (on paper). Perfect example, I don't care for the digital amps that are on the market today. Of the ones I've listened to, Audio Research comes the closest to what I consider 'music'.
Is this a slam against Vinny and the other guys out there? Not by a long shot. This is subjectivity and personal bias coming into play. Becasue of my own bias, I will probably never review nor own a digital amp. On the other hand, there are tons of guys that absolutely love Vinny's gear. And that's great, honest.
Remember, you may like blondes while I might shy towards brunettes. Vinny may go after redheads while Marbles will take any of them because they are all women.
In the end, there isn't any need to be suspect of the reviewing industry. The crooked reviewers and mags don't last in the industry. Manufacturers talk amongst themselves and other reviewers to check out a potential reviewers credentials (or I'd hope they would). And I would sure hope that a manufacturer would look at a revewiers bias before they sent him a piece of gear.
What you as the reader have to do is determine if your bias matches that of the reviewer. It forces you to read many of that persons other reviews to see if you are philisophically (sp) aligned with him. Only then can you make a determination if you might like a piece of gear they have just reviewed.
As a writer, I have to make sure that you are aware of my bias in every one of my reviews and also in my bio. I also have to explain as best I can how a piece sounds on all levels. I also have to (when I'm technically capable) explain design concepts so that you have a better understanding of how and why this thing works. If I don't do that, I've not done my job.
Do I and other reviewers rave on occasion? Sure we do. Music is very emotional and if a piece brings us closer to the music, to the point that we forget that we are listening to gear and become absorbed in the music performance, you bet we're going to rave.
Remember, we are music lovers first, otherwise we'd all be fishing or golfing.
