If I could give you a thousand likes for that I would. You have to get reviews from multiple sources, even those you don’t like/agree with. These reviewers are all giving their honest opinions on the equipment in front of them. I personally don’t like a few of the reviewers that have been mentioned in here (wont say if people thought they were good or bad) but I still see what they have to say about any given product I’m interested in because I want to see what the takeaways are. Not all reviewers are going to cover the same info and some might introduce new information you didn’t know or think about. It’s your responsibility to be an informed buyer. If you decide to listen to only one or two reviewers you may get burnt on an item that they liked but you hate.
Interesting thread, I agree with many about the most popular youtubers.
One I really can’t stand is Oluv’s (ex clavinetjunkie), but in a very personal way. I don’t even care if his test are accurate, he is so rude, unpleasant and whiny that all he does is just nullified by being himself.
I remember reading this poor guy asking in the comments if Oluv could test some songs, he replied something like ‘nobody listen to that crap’. I was like wtf? He basically listen the shittiest muzak on earth, still he has the courage to call crap to others. He is very obnoxious and irritating, I don’t understand why all the positive comment by his courtesans.
On the other side: I didn’t read anything about Crinacle, what do you think? I mostly read on his website and his reddit, since it has only 3 or 4 videos on youtube, but I sorta like him even though is very measurement oriented.
I thought those tests and comments Oluv made where ridiculous. There are some reviewers where i wonder if their just suffering hearing loss. He’s one i think would be good to stay away from
I pretty much give anybody a chance, but I think Oluv needs to get his ears checked. I can’t take him serious, I just can’t. He has said so many preposterous things that I really can’t, and I try to give everybody a chance.
I’ll throw out a name I have mixed feelings on: Mark Waldrep. He’s not technically a reviewer, but he does blog a lot about the state of HD or hi-res audio, market influences around those, and his own record label. Today he had a column on audiophilereview.com discussing “The Truth” about HD audio. This column is not the only column or blog post in which he does so. He’s a bit of an evangelist type on this subject, truth be told. He advocates strongly for HD audio at the recording and production stage, but advocates even more strongly for HD audio NOT being important for the end listener. He also frequently challenges the marketing many audio companies do to promote their products and HD audio. In some of his blog posts, he goes so far as to call companies who promote HD as “scheisters”. My issue here is not so much in shining light on dishonest marketing - that clearly happens and needs to be called out (he is rightly on Amazon’s case for marketing redbook CD quality as “HD”, for example). I object to how Waldrep will turn around and play the victim when confronted on the terms he chooses to use to describe audio companies he deems to be doing this inappropriate marketing. There was a blog post in particular where Waldrep took offense to a cable manufacturer calling him “nasty.” It frustrates me that it’s ok for him to publicly refer to several companies and their employees as “scheisters” but then he has to spend an entire blog post lamenting how he was called “nasty.”
Currently Waldrep is conducting in a study to see if listeners can reliably discern the difference between 24-bit/96KHz and 16-bit/44.1KHz audio. This study is actually the second iteration the same. I participated in what was likely the pilot study. In my participation, there was a readily audibly apparent difference between the two*. Waldrep was then, and is now, very vocal about his hypothesis that listeners will not be able reliably discern between the two formats. Given the consistency and tone that Waldrep takes when stating this hypothesis publicly, I have concern about his objectivity in conducting such a study. He seems very prone to confirmation bias. My own ability to perceive the difference betweent he filetypes consistently, and on very modest equipment*, also makes me very uncomfortable with the ease with which he labels companies selling HD audio products as “scheisters.”
*The difference I noticed between the redbook and HD tracks was primarily in the spatial presentation. The 24/96 tracks had a wider soundstage and placed instruments and vocals within that soundstage more naturally - not necessarily more accurately - but more naturally. The perceived sonic image positions on the 16/44.1 tracks was more aggressive; they gave an impression of “here I am! right here!” The same images on the 24/96 tracks were every bit as accurate in terms of perceived location, but less “here I am!” - creating a more seemless and natural soundfield, IMO. There is almost 0 perceptible difference for things like tonality or timbre. For reference, I did this test using M1060 headphones powered by a DAC-X6 and with a Denon AVR-2313CI AVR powering Def Tech SM-55 speakers and a Dayton sub kit in 2.1 mode. I did the headphone and speaker testing 1 week apart.
Tisk, tisk. It’s funny how you put BGGR on your recommended list as he threatens physical harm on people. And you enjoy Zeos–who shills products for a living. I recall you commented on my channel before, and couldn’t provide any rationale basis or factual support for your particular beliefs. This is a good list, however, to help understand your very peculiar views. Good on you!
Oh! God DAMN!!! I’m gonna need a drink of water after reading that salty comment. You mentioned Zeos being a shill. This is a forum that he and DMS created and there is literally a thread call “is Z a shill”. While there are a lot of people defending him, there are also plenty criticizing him as well. But what you WON’T find there is Z talking smack and being disrespectful to anyone about how they view him. What you are doing by posting this is reinforcing the bad image people see of you in this thread.
Just for posterity, I’m going to copy paste your post in case it is taken down or you retract it.
“Tisk, tisk. It’s funny how you put BGGR on your recommended list as he threatens physical harm on people. And you enjoy Zeos–who shills products for a living. I recall you commented on my channel before, and couldn’t provide any rationale basis or factual support for your particular beliefs. This is a good list, however, to help understand your very peculiar views. Good on you!” (No_Theme_Reviews)
Ooooh. No, not salt! PoorBastard started that, and it’s so nice to see you’re willing to pick up his droppings.
Please, that’s a bit too melodramatic. Yeah, yeah, Zeos is good–no problem, can’t point out he shills for a living. Nope, he doesn’t “disrespect” others. That’s great for him–and probably because if he causes a controversy he’ll start losing the relationships he has with companies.
I wouldn’t retract a statement. You and the others are free to ridicule me in whatever way you wish. But instead of whining about it, I actually challenge you people to support your positions factually. And every single time I ask for that, you people can’t do it. Why is that? I get a “bad image” for demanding you all stop making BS comments, unsupported arguments, and stop relying on each other’s anecdotal feelings about audio performance.
I think this forum is relatively unbiased (as much as that’s possible considering zeos is the forum owner).
There are indeed members who closely follow @ZeosPantera, such as @Antpage2, but not everyone here is a zealot.
I personally take zeos reviews more as entertainment, and not so much scientific, or accurate for that matter.
Everyone has an opinion, and that’s what all reviewer do, they give their opinions and it’s up to the viewer to discern which opinions are in line with there own.
