Hi there. Just perusing this site and came across this thread. I generally lurk on the forums and dont identify myself-- but it is I (drum roll please...)-- David Abramson from Stereotimes. You'll never pin me down though- this is only one of my lame aliases (cue evil laugh etc.
)! I know-- who cares. In any case...
On a more serious note, I'd just like to say that we myriad 'less famous' reviewers generally solicit product for review with a simple email or a call or two. The big boys get offered stuff left and right. Not I.
Then, we spend some time with the gear and write about it. There are no pretenses or promises about 'great reviews' or advertising dollars or even for that matter, promises of any kind of merchandise discounts etc.
Now it is true that over the 5 years or so I've been doing this, I have received a few products that I positively HATED. I even started to review one or two of them. But after a few paragraphs such as "these are the worst cables I have ever heard-- even Radio Shack's worst cables make these sound broken." I asked myself "what's the point?"
Yeah I know; as Steven Colbert would say, 'total truthiness' (at least my version of it, right?) But if all I can say is that with MY system, with MY components, I couldnt listen to brand X for a second, to me this would be different than writing "I dont think these are as good as I've heard" or "the mids could be more present" etc. I could throw out ethics and temper things a bit I guess-- but in some cases, things are so bad that I cant in good conscience do so.
These are often small companies that are trying to get their product out there and have maybe sent me a sample for review (again, at my request). So I will sometimes listen, hate it completely, and then send them back to the manufacturer and state my issues and politely decline to review the product--- yet. I say 'sometimes' but this has really only happened about twice that I can recall.
Now- if the review is simply going to be 'less than favorable' or anything short of "I hate it and it shouldnt be on the market" -- then you will
definitely see those less than favorable comments in print. It's just-- so far, and you've
got to believe me on this, other than one thing or two I thought was atrocious (see above), I have
really liked a lot of the things I've reviewed. And I have said so.
Vinnie's amp for example, is indeed terrific. It is very terrific. Everyone I played it for also thought it was terrific. It is not the single greatest thing in every regard that I have ever heard in my free-living days-- and I said that my classic tube gear did some things a bit better. I think it does. But the 30.2 is no less awesome for it.
And I was not paid to say any of it nor was Stereotimes. Since many of us have heard a lot of gear, I feel comparisons in reviews are a very important thing and I included them as usual, in the 30.2 review. (The British stereo press does this very well). I know that what I think about a component is only my opinion in my system on a given sunday, but I feel that comparisons at least offer a smidge of basis for you to judge what I'm saying. If you own or have bought and sold a particular speaker for instance, and I call the review speaker a touch laid back in comparison, you can maybe relate to what I'm saying a bit more.
In any case, one review, as I like to say to no one in particular, is never sufficient. But in the case of Vinnie's 30.2, when you got like 10 reviewers' heads nodding vigorously 'YES,' than you can at least bet the product is going to make a significant amount of people happy. Not everyone- but many. I think Vinnie's stuff definitely does that and will do more of it in the future. For that matter-- so does Vinnie.
