define “a lot”. Because He did not make a lot of sense.
He had some and i do mean some half decent points.
But the problem is that is heavily marred by the way he misrepresented the people he was talking about, took things they say and do entirely out of context and alter things that they say to match his own agenda.
For example NTR made the comment that “Zeos said he ONLY recommends things that are unique”. Or to that effect since I really am not going to go through that 25 minute video to find his exact words. But that is what NTR said. That Zeos says he only recommends unique things.
Now that is entirely not true and completely contrary to what Z has said in the past.
He is very clear that he recommend things that are different, unique, good as they are or good for their price. He does not recommend things that are only unique.
That would be fucking stupid.
NTR also talked about how reviewers are nitpicking and giving bad reviews or low rated reviews based on stupid things. He opens up a review on the Little Bear B4-X and looks at the cons listed.
Noise interference when you use a phone close to it. According to NTR that is nitpicking. It is a serious problem on the B4-x. It is a lot of noise and the phone doesn’t even have to be that close. Bearing in mind it is designed to be portable and probably connected to a phone.
A serious issue. But that’s being nitpicky.
That same review says the little window fell off easily…also apparently nitpicky
Um hello there are hot tubes in there and they are made from glass.
What happens if the door pops off and you burn your finger or if the tube shatters.
Issues with the sockets because they are either of poor quality or badly installed.
And he wonders “how can they rate it a 2.5 stars out of 5.”
Yeah because it’s noisy as shit when you bring a phone remotely near the thing and it has any cellular connection, because it has issues with all it’s connectors and the window falls off…yeah…i wonder why.
He also can’t seem to take proper criticism and is highly argumentative based on the way he responds to criticism.
All of that is the type of bullshit that is not acceptable.
There are a lot of problems with him in general and not just with that particular video.
There are some comments on that video which also have some other very good points. Feel free to go through them.
unfortunately that type of things can happen. A reviewer has a sample size of one item. So if theirs doesn’t break they can’t say "hey these have some serious build quality issues and are possibly prone to breaking.
Also going back to that video he was quite rough with them. So as far as he can tell from his single sample size, they are at least somewhat robust.
But again. Single sample size. It is also entirely possible that the product changed in quality after his review. That type of thing does happen and unfortunately it is often not for the better.
I am assuming you did get a refund from the seller of the headphones after that or eventually got one that has not broken yet or took some time to break.
On a little google foo I couldn’t really find anyone complaining a lot about their units breaking very easily. A couple people saying they broke after a year or two.
But I couldn’t find anything quickly about people breaking them in a very short time span.
So entirely possible you also just got highly unlucky.
Yes. I got a refund. To be fair, he did good with his recommendation of the Crown 1502. I’ve used that as my main amp driving Vandersteen 2s for about 2 years. That unit has just worked and has been great for movies and music.
If anything that proves that even if Superlux fucks up the quality, at least their returns and refund system works.
Those crowns are pretty good and I think they are getting pretty cheap these days. Well at least for me locally. I think when Z’s initial review came out it was cheaper for me to ship two here from Amazon US, than it was to buy one here. But now buying one here is more or less the cost of one and it’s shipping here. More or less.
A better question would be has anyone been disappointed in his recommendations ?
How about Philips SHP 9500 or Audio-Technica ATH-M40X or HiFiMan 400s or Status CB-1 or any of the overachieving products he has brought to light.
Who was the one who championed SMSL, Aune, Topping, Little Bear or many other great affordable items
Who else composes lists of recommended products in different price ranges.
If you choose to waste money on over priced/under achieving Audio products you must look elsewhere.
I know acouplle of people who have been disapointed by the takstars and the shp 9500 but they are all pretty treble sensitive. while I think a lot of his recommendations are really good he jsut has a knack to oversell things even if they deserve the praise.
Were they people already well versed in audio, or were they total newcomers? I’ve had someone really dislike the 58x, bit then again he always listened to high end speakers and enjoyed the higher end headphones more (he also didn’t know what they cost )
They are new comers and really just wanted a pair of cloud 2’s for gaming and often refered to this rigning that bothered them when listening to music.
Most people can tell you what sounds better when you put them in a room with a good hifi system or put a good set of headphones on their head, even though they had no experience with a better product.
The same kind of thing happens with high refresh rate monitors, NY delis, cars, and a lot of things.
I think most people come here because they are curious and I think enthusiasm keeps more people around in than elitism. So when Zeos says ‘THESE!’ I find it more of a way to engage than a way to shill.
I agree, but I’m more talking about more minute details involving the sound. For example, I might notice some ringing in a certain freq range, but my younger sister who can acknowledge good sound, but isn’t super interested (and has about equal hearing range) can’t notice it, unless I describe where it is, and even then she still might not hear it. It just takes more than physical hearing capability to truly listen and pick out qualities of sound because of how dependant your hearing is on your brain
Uggh, that is almost 27 minutes of my life that I wont get back. NTR wanted to start his reviewer career by sh!tting on some well know reviewers and products. Like, c’mon, you really are going to pick on lack of sound description of KPP? Really?!?
Call me Z’s or BGGAR’s fanboy, but I got really nice stuff thanks to both that I wouldn’t knew about.
NTR is full of shill, salty dude. Same as Oluv.
Plus, look at his setup on other videos, clearly he is imitating Zeos, just much more less entertaining and longer reviewes (1 hour, really?)
Man I enjoy all types of reviews and reviewers, I take all of them with a pinch of salt as everyone has their own agendas opinions and preferences like we all do when I comes to audiophile stuff, let alone running a Youtube Channel.
Chill take the hardware sound bites and other…from the reviewers and enjoy the music
Z never guaranteed us like Josh does that he does not get paid to recommend products. Whether that is just not his “reviewer style” or he did it on purpose I don’t know for sure, just something I keep in mind. He has to be getting the money to live from somewhere. He doesn’t seem to have a day job, and probably couldn’t keep up with the channel if he did (I ran a review channel on YouTube myself once) so he has to be able to pay the bills and spend thousands on guns, headphones, speakers, etc.
Z is undisputedly the audio industry’s largest advertising platform. The audio industry is very small in comparison to other hobbies, and as a result, it is very hard for these small local or Chinese companies to advertise. For many of them, Z is the only way they would ever get their name out. Take Sendy for an example. Statistically, how many of us audiophiles just stumbled upon Sendy before Z mentioned it? Probably around 1%. But since Z made a video about it, most of his 150,000 subscriber audience all of a sudden knew about this company. Those kind of results can take a company from a garage to a corporate building - you get the point.
Ultimately, it is all up to us and who’s opinion we take as truth and how we spend our money. But it is very hard to base your $600 purchase on a single review (which is often the case because there are so little reviewers in audio period, let alone any that have the volume of products that Z gets) and even harder to know what a headphone sounds like when you haven’t put it on. Just do your research and spend money wisely.
Z also gets paid by all of the affiliate links he puts in his YouTube videos. I think affiliate links to Amazon pay about a 5% commission for headphones/audio equipment. So it’s in Z’s best interest to hype headphones. I don’t think he ever lies about his reviews, but I certainly think he oversells/overhypes certain equipment.
If 10 people buy a $500 headphone using Z’s affiliate link, he will have an extra $250 in his pocket.
z sells merch and and runs a patreon where he has over a 1000 backers and most people god for the 5 and 10 dollar tier. and most of the gear he reviews are sent to hime or borrowed. he also has an amazon afiliate link. while I do agree he never discloses if he gets paid or not but I doubt he gets paid from people who make thge headphones. but if you told me he got paid to sell like ursine or high quality cables then I would probably believe you.
If you think about it, that is exactly what an affiliate link is though… getting paid to give good reviews. See if he gives a $500 pair of headphones a good review + people buy it = he gets commission. If he doesn’t - then no one buys it = he doesn’t get commission. (Its like a car salesman - how many salesman actually believe the car they are trying to sell you is actually best for you? And how many are just trying to get a massive commission) It’s an indirect link, but the trail is still there. I’m not saying that he is black and white scamming us, because I think he’s (mostly) honest about what is good and what is not. But there is a grey area where money and good reviews is good news for Z.
I’m here because I want Zeos, DMS, and Joshua Valour to succeed as a business and create more content.
Like most of my entertainment, I have no issue spending money on content and creators across various platforms. I say entertainment as I find Zeos more emotionally convincing than a repository of facts. I find that Z Reviews is a good place to start for products that are usually affordable ideas and highlights for products that I otherwise would simply overlook or skip elsewhere. Call it hype if you must, but this sort of product education and entertainment blend appears to be largely focused around enjoying music.
I agree with ISDS because being able to do your own research is a must. Being able to audition before you buy is a great luxury a lot of people do not have access to. I do not think one reviewer saying that something is great should inform a buy decision when there is a budget. I have to point out that this word of mouth transmission of what is subjectively terrible, bad, ok, good, or great has always been around. But now there are many resources and over time you can judge if you should or should not give credence to reviewers. And with Z Reviews for things that I was already interested in or didn’t know I ‘needed’ until it was in a Zeos YouTube video. To say the least I have yet to be disappointed because I watch and then do my homework.
While I am always for transparency and honesty, I do realize that many people would opt not to support many creators they otherwise would if they knew what a person makes in a given period of time. My honest assessment of anyone with affiliate links to the products they are reviewing is not horror that they might be making money off a review by having you purchase something, but mostly one of support unless it is clearly the modus operandi. If they have peaked my interests enough to research and decide to buy a product, then I do not care about a commission they receive and would encourage people compelled to buy things with those links if they felt swayed to support the content creators. I do not view this as attempting to dupe people into deals they have not clearly thought through for what is a necessity for a lot of people, but as a fan of audio talking excitedly about something that brought the reviewer joy, sorrow, pain, elation, or whatever emotion.
And this is where I see DMS, Joshua, and Zeos: they are fans of audio that review products. If they were only to sensationalize to make sales, then I do not think they would even be nearly as successful. As I mentioned in the beginning, I view their content as more emotionally convincing and if there was any misgivings of their intention I really do not think most people would continue to patronize or view the content as trust is a key part of retaining viewers.
opinions and preferences like we all do when I comes to audiophile stuff, let alone running a Youtube Channel.