Good audio reviewers and ones to stay far far away from

I don’t want to know who he/she is but how do they rate HP’s >< IEM’s >< Buds <> Speaker System?..Me personally Speakers > IEM/Bud’s > HP’s…:moneybag:x10 HP’s are probably “better” than most apart from a dope :gem: speaker set up (not even close) but man I really can’t wear them too long, they make ears and head :fire:

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Yeah, we’re all losers. LO to the massive L. :slight_smile:

Why do most of the audio gear reviewers not speak to the more practical aspects of all of this audio gear whether high priced or high end or not….like headphone reviewers not mentioning purchase factors which go way beyond the fantastic sound rendering qualities headphones might have? And I speak about the long term durability and battery replacement aspects for all of these pricey headphones. For example, all over Reddit, there’s tons of discussions from Focal Bathys owners that speak to their poor design which make the headbands prone to breaking, and likewise, the customer support or lack there-of. Also, the batteries of these will eventually require replacing, and the cost and process to do so can be a huge hassle. Yet neither of these factors are brought up in consideration or comparison from one brand to another during these reviews! I may be way off base here but isn’t it a bit negligent where reviewers might end up influencing a person to buying something that while may be a great sonic choice, invariably turns out to be a poor choice in the absence of the mention of these other practical considerations. Of course, some of these adverse things are only found out by owners once they’re encountered which by then, is way too late! Anyways, would love to hear other people’s opinions on this :blush::thinking:

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My theory is that, they aren’t paying for the gear they are reviewing, since they are usually loaners or completely free. They also tend to listen to loads of expensive gear, so the price isn’t what makes something stand out to them. Reviews tend to only get lots of traffic when the item is new, so the long term review is not something professional reviewers do very often, and when they do it will be a wildly popular piece of gear, since that will generate traffic.

I also think that everyone operates with a different budget. There are people here that struggle to buy a $100 set, or even $50, and others that spend a few hundred every month. I have 4 pairs of IEMs that were over $200, which is nothing or loads, depending on who you ask. I was looking at my own budget this year, and I have purchased Doscinco, Explorer, TRN Conch, KZ Vader, XuanNv, Hades, and EA500LM. That is probably a good representation of how I roll, about a set a month, most purchased during a sale of some sort. I will probably sell or give away about half of that gear.

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Had the 660’s probably the most :sleeping: HP even when driven by OTL but good to see the comparisons :+1:

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as @John_W_Clark said, reviewers shouldnt be your source of info regarding durability as they tend to not really spend that much time to either find or trigger any bad design choices related to durability. It is best to look at consumer reports for that.

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Most video reviewers do this as a one man show they don’t have an editorial board, video editing consumes a lot of time, they prioritize quick releases of new product reviews. Being the first to do so gives an advantage in views.
I’m totally with you but when you look how the whole youtube spiel works, it won’t get better.
What I notice the last months is that this becomes more and more extreme. These “reviews” turned into a stream of consciousness presentation where the “reviewer” can’t even tell the basic facts about the product and looks up basic facts during the review. It’s really bad.

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Because batteries aren’t going to need to be replaced in the few weeks that the reviewer has the unit? Because long-term durability issues require long-term testing and most of them aren’t going to have that much time with the unit? The answer to your question is ‘time’. Reviews happen over a course of weeks. Maybe a few months if they really want to be thorough. And those issues, by and large, just aren’t going to happen to them during the time that they have the unit.

people give zeos shit for liking everything, but if i’m interested in something and he’s got a review on it I watch simply because he covers the stuff that causes irritation in day to day usage

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I am “open” to many reviewers. They are all, pretty much, semi-useful data points.

I appreciate HBB with his insistence on the importance of the music library used for the review(s). Others will do it in written form or just talk about the sonic fingerprint of an audio device without specific content but it doesn’t “hit home” like HBB does it through video and audio like when he talks about a passage then plays it, i.e., he talks about treble via a cymbal crash then plays a direct example.

I wish more reviewers gave the mean dB level that they are using. I tend to listen at about 72 dB. That has a different perception curve than 85 dB, etc. I can’t draw strong conclusions if there is no testing volume context.

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Shameless boost of my own,

You guys can follow me if you haven’t :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: But i am new and still learning myself so :grinning:

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Agreed, I know Jay is a high volume guy, where I am more mid and low volume. The side effect is that we have very different experiences with some sets, since treble can get rough at higher volumes.

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Daaamn dude, just when I was going to check out what he’s been up to, what’s new in the BT speakers arena…
https://www.patreon.com/posts/oluvs-gadgets-is-109177535

And of course almost always when this happens you lose your YouTube videos forever if you didn’t have backups. Google don’t give a single shit.

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