Good audio reviewers and ones to stay far far away from

Z, Josh, Metal and DMS, they all help to give me a review/reviewer version of a headphone sound stage…I just take a bit of what they all say knowing what they like about a sound signatures etc…gives me a pretty solid base as to what I’ll enjoy/demo…£ to :headphones::heart:

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one should always consult multiple sources and find the commonalities for the pros n cons and always include a few dissenting viewpoints to keep clarity on the matter. if you only use resources that tickle your ear, you do yourself a disservice.

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Well yes that is why this thread exists.
Share reviewers on youtube or writers that people approve of (not just because they like them), give a breakdown of their style of review and what we think of them. That is why I am doing a constant edit to the end of my starter post. So that there is a list which includes who suggested them and their style breakdowns.
Essentially we are reviewing the reviewers and trying to find out who is good and who is just plain shit or a shill cough John Darko cough. Thereby building a database of potential data points to pull from when we make decisions so that we don’t just have one or two.

What it will also most likely do is enlighten other people of other youtube channels and reviewers. Thereby pushing up their subscriber counts or getting more views on their review posts.

Another reviewer that’s been on headphone fans’ radars recently is Max Settings:

I for one quickly developed a deep dislike for this guy due to the personal attack section against Garuspik that he felt he needed to include in his Verum 1 video. Totally not classy and doesn’t make me want to hear him talk about any more products. But some people like him, IDK.

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Yeah I just had a look at that video and a few other videos. The guy is completely full of himself.

Calling out a lone guy and his company on a product not because of bad sound or anything. Just because of his social opinion.
Telling the guy making the headphones FOR FUN that selling a headphone for what the parts and time is worth is NOT HOW A COMPANY WORKS is just a joke. If that is what the guy from Verum wants to do then let him. Not someone else’s job to say do it my way or fuck you.
He might think this is okay because the guy from Verum said to the ZMF guy that their headphones are too expensive for what really went into them. But it isn’t the same when the top end ZMF is 2700 dollars and STARTS at 1200 USD with cables selling separately for 250 usd to 400 usd.
That’s just madness.

Calling out the guy for 1/3rd of the video essentially very subtly threatening and saying the classic “I don’t want to cause drama…buuutttt”.
Sigh. That video plus the others I saw make me stay far from that one too now.
The comments of the video and the like to dislike ratio very clearly tells a tale of keep that shit out of here.

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hmmm…I’m enjoying Josh’s reviews. he’s a listener, not an engineer and speaks plainly…uses keywords, but then defines them with add-on’s for the layperson.

also, his blast for the one guy that makes headphones…it was fair and balanced. perhaps talked about it too much, but he was trying to make it clear that they had good points, but three units with the same issue in a row put up stops and he was making sure everyone was aware.

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I really enjoy reading crinacle and ASR’s reviews.

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are there any video reviewers that keep things short and succinct? so man of them ramble on for 15 - 20 minutes and it’s hard to get the actual sound bytes you’re really wanting to hear/know.

In headphone land DMS and Josh are the closest to short and succinct with content of any quality I know of. Zeos, Metal, Settings, Resolve, Currawong – all significantly longer.

And Josh was told by his viewers that they preferred longer to shorter, so know he’s back doing fewer but longer, in the 10 minute range.

I watched his review on the Edition XX and it seemed like he didn’t know if he was coming or going.

I prefer reviews you can read, but appreciate how video reviews can be a helpful revenue stream.

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what sites have you come to trust for written reviews? you can say who you avoid as well. :wink:

Resolve’s & Torq’s reviews are the best. You can read them at headphones.com.

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New Record Day and the Tekton fiasco.

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Aside from those already mentioned, I’m a big fan of Zero Fidelity and Joe N Tell, both give honest opinions and manage to keep things fairly succinct. One thing that Sean (Zero Fidelity) has started doing is going back and revisiting things he reviewed already so he can see if they still stand up to the hype, if opinions changed over time, etc. It’s a neat idea.
I also really enjoy Techno Dad and Youthman, although they tend to be more home theater-oriented.

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these are one’s you like or don’t like?

are these video or written reviewers?

All on Youtube, although Joe N Tell occasionally contributes to dailyhifi.com, and he is also a mod on r/budgetaudiophile.

Purely a promoter in my opinion. (same goes for the whole dailyhifi crew)

I’ve been following a little-known YT headphone reviewer for several months now, David Sylvia. May possibly be of interest to those shopping on a budget.

He has an aw-shucks, lackadaisical style, does long-form reviews and doesn’t have a huge breadth of experience with everything out there, esp. at the high end. But so far as I can tell he has a good ear, is at least reasonably good at verbalizing what he hears, and has a surprisingly balanced/mature approach to reviewing. He’s more about “this works for people who like such-and-such” than about “this is good because it matches my preferences”.

He started with low-priced gear and has been gradually working his way up the price ladder. But he has a growing collection of gear to compare things to including Elex, HD 600, 650, HE4XX, HE560, Edition XX, Advanced Alphas, Aeon Flow Open and M1060s for over-ears; Geshelli stack, Aune stack, CTH, and the 788, and a couple obscure tube amps for amps and DACs.

Probably an acquired taste, but check him out if the above seems to be of any interest:

BTW: he calls his channel DBS Tech Talk, but don’t let that mislead you. He’s totally not into the tech side of the hobby.

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Z, BGGR (although he is an IEM guy mainly), Josh, Resolve and DMS.

Some are more educated in the audiphile area, but I like to get many oppinions AND also opinions from someone who is more a user than an expert, like myself.

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