I don’t really think that’s true, most people would consider something shilling if a review is overly positive and makes pretty significant claims (like “this is the best product I’ve ever heard” or “this punches well above it’s price and beats most things above” or “just buy this why buy anything else” and etc), or if a review specifically positions a product in a very bad light against something else (something like “product A sucks so just buy product B it does everything better for the same cost” or something like that). I don’t think most people would really claim shilling about an average review that doesn’t make ridiculous claims or seem overly positive or negative.
There are of course exceptions when a specific product is viewed generally bad by the majority and you can tell a reviewer is trying to use some fancy wordplay to avoid saying something sucks, but generally most respectable reviewers aren’t going to do that and it’s not a common occurrence
I can’t tell the difference between this amp and the other amp selling at Thrice the Price ® “I can sell theeeese”. Just click on the Apos link below.
Zeos gave up reviewing shit a long time ago, now it’s about making money on stuff that’s good, for its price point. However, his latest technique on up selling people that he got onto $200 dollar DACs and Amplifiers to buy the sponsored $600 dollar DACs and Amplifiers is to say that he can’t hear a difference between them and the multi thousand dollar stuff. Loses all credibility, know what I mean?
That’s no longer a reviewer, that’s a sales guy at Best Buy.
*the line in bold is the only thing I have a problem with, everyone has to make a living.
You possibly could be correct but how does the compensation model work for affiliate/paid links?
Probably on a good video Zeos could move maybe 500 units for say a Sinxger Amp… I would assume that he gets $2-$3 per sale so maybe he makes $1k - $1.5k off the shill. I would think his patreon/sub revenue stream is much stronger and repeating so he would need to be very careful not to screw his monthly paying crowd with false shilling.
Hence I tend to believe he knows his audience (entry Fi) and picks a unit that he genuinely likes in the price bracket his demographics can afford.
Most stuff on the channel is under a grand, very rarely its more. Ofc you could argue its more. Definitely not less And that’s probably a psychological limit that most people are willing to spend.
And that’s probably a psychological limit that most people are willing to spend.