Cannot agree. Every hobby I’ve delved into has multiple very enthusiastic geeks who spend more time on the web talking about the hobby than they do in the real world enjoying it. I’ve done very deep dives into; Martial arts (both armed and empty handed), benchrest shooting, long range marksmanship, gunsmithing, cars (specifically classic Americam muscle and resto/mods), compound archery (competitve), bladesmithing, material science (ferrous metallurgy), wet shaving (both safety razor and straight razor), antique straight razor restoration and trading, and am now neck deep in audiophelia.
All of those communities have large numbers of people doing exactly what we do here. Yes, even shaving. There’s actually a thriving enthusiast community for shaving, and I am guilty as charged!
Though, I must admit, I have some bangin’ kpop blasting my eardrums on my new headphones as I type this. This is the first hobby I’ve been involved in that I can enjoy WHILE I talks (or type) about it!
Have full understanding that all hobbies have communities, but when I imagine a hobbyist/enthusiast, I imagine them doing the hobby and not spending time on the web talking about it. Sure you might go on the web to ask a question or for an opinion, but in theory you should spend more time in the hobby.
Let’s say you love photography/cinematography, you “should” spend more time shooting and experimenting than talking on the web.
Cycling, you “should” spend more time riding your bike than talking about it.
If you imagine a “true” audiophile, you imagine a human who is spending time thoroughly enjoying music.
We are all different though. Some of us just enjoy interacting with others’ and sharing our enthusiasm online. Nothing wrong with that!
Like if you imagine a celebrity or a “rich” person with a hobby, you don’t imagine them spending time on the web.
I can’t agree more. When I upgraded from my Grace SDAC to a Bifrost 2 I immediately noticed more low end, detail, and instrument separation. I’m willing to concede that the change in sound isn’t “worth” $600 ($100 → $700) to some people, but there was definitely a difference.
I actually had a much more difficult time hearing the difference between balanced and SE outs on the Jotunheim 2; I can admit that.
I guess what I was implying was that I distinctly get the feeling that there are a lot of hobbies full of keyboard jockies who get enthusiastic but spend more time online than they do enjoying the activities they “should” be lol. To each their own. I’m not /bothered/ by it, but the universal humanity of it is sometimes amusing.
I myself am one of those who like to spend more time doing the hobby/activity that I am passionate about then talking about it online. However, I love education and gaining more knowledge, so I might hop on a forum and ask someone for a specific thing about the hobby — forums are very useful when you need help because there are knowledgeable people who are always willing to help you out.
It’s hard to know where to start with head-fi reviewers, but there’s one frequent front-pager in particular whose been bothering me.
Firstly, “corgifall” was the one who created this gem of a con in one their reviews: “Single DD timbre”. I’ll let that sink in. Gave me a laugh at the time. Didn’t stop stores/manufacturers from chucking expensive items at them.
Secondly, despite being sent very expensive items, and saying While I always appreciate stuff being sent in to test and review, It never affects the rating of my review. the LOWEST they have reviewed an item is 4/5. That’s the lowest, and they’re building up quite a stack of reviews. Everything they have been sent to review has magically garnered 4, 4.5, or 5 stars. That’s an even more biased and worthless average than another head-fier who most of us suspect to be a Penon shill (never lower than a 3/5 I think).
In other words their reviews are essentially useless, and exist to receive more stuff, and so Head-Fi can put it on the front page to the satisfaction of the company being shilled.
They’ve never given any evidence that they know what they’re talking about, just that they’ve enjoyed a lot of expensive gear.
Pff, I’ve seen some quite hilarious front page reviews. One in particular where a Head-Fier by the name of mochil posted a review of the Final Audio A8000 — a $2000 IEM — and it felt like what I was reading was either some fantasy or a drug trip.
I want to state that I have absolutely nothing against this individual! This one in particular helped me know who I will never be as a reviewer, and it only pushed me harder to develop my personal style. I think that the saddest part is that the company provided him the A8000 as a sample, and I personally think that the review just didn’t do it justice.
The best line from the review (describing treble):
She is fast and gentle at the same time just like air , clear and transparent while be natural and real and never hurt you one bit. She extends far and wide and deep and high . She touches you soft with light textures that can tickle your follicle.
From that moment on, I knew that a poet is not what I am trying to be as a reviewer…
For the record twice when I’ve had something for sale at a low price, that user has lowballed me. Never responded to my reply after making the poor offer. How incongruous with their potential budget. (Mochil not corgifall)
But man, this particular review just had an incredibly large impact on me. It made me question a lot of things, and also inspired me to be the complete opposite of that. I always desired to be a true professional when it comes to anything that I’m doing, so that’s exactly what I did after reading it. It made me raise my standards like crazy…
I don’t think the guy took the review seriously at all, he probably went half-ass with it and walked away with a $2000 IEM. From what it looks like, the review didn’t take more than a few hours to compose… I just don’t think it’s morally correct since he didn’t do neither the company nor the product justice.
By this I don’t mean that he should’ve praised it, but at least the product and the effort from the company’s team deserves some serious critical evaluation
I’m so glad to see that I am not the only one who had a horrific reaction to that review.
Now, that review was on the front page of Head-Fi, which at the time only made me question Head-Fi as a whole. Like how can you put this on the fckn front page? Only if you’re under serious drug influence could you post this on the front page of anything lol.
I don’t know how you end up mentioning a follicle in a review…
Completely unbiased opinion, I think Szymon the Crackhead is funny, witty, and usually on point with his opinions.
On a serious note though, fuck Timmy from GizAudio. Guy shills everything, makes clickbaity videos, and straight up says shit like “I don’t hear any difference between Starfield and KXXS, but just to be sure, I would buy (from my affiliate link) the more expensive one, to be sure you are not missing out”. What a clown.
To be fair, as I was learning to navigate reviews, and products, and so forth, I was often told things like “that’s a $100 dac it couldn’t compete with the $300 dacs”, or “Why would you compare a $500 amp to a $300 amp? These aren’t even in the same league”. Often was I reminded that “you get what you pay for” was a real truism in specifically headphone gear. Often was I given the impression that were I to choose a $300 dac or amp, it would perform fairly similarly, with only subtle differences among a given price bracket. If I wanted a REAL upgrade, it would involve jumping to the next price bracket.
Thus, it doesn’t surprise me much that a Head-fi/ youtube reviewer would approach these sorts of distinctions from a “you get what you pay for” perspective.
I don’t know, I listened to this part and for me he was quite fair in that particular comparison. I did not watch the rest of the video though.
In general I tend to listen some of his videos (those that clickbaits me) and taking his opinions with huge grain of salt - as as you said he overreacts on a lot of stuff - but I think his opinions and takes are somehow informative in a lot of cases as compared to a lot of other ones on YT. He also has a lot of the stuff quite quickly so that is also good think
