Official "Is Z a shill?" thread

Off-Topic
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Official “Is Z a shill?” thread .

I can answer that right here, yes he is with a capitol Y E S.

If you saw the amount of money he was paid to lazily hype the Gold Planar GL 2000 Headphone and are weak minded enough to succumb to his hilarious dime store magic spells like these fully grown adult fanboys are, then you would have frustration spilling over in multiple forums too.

I’ve seen Vincent Gallo do better magic than this in Brown Bunny when he got that pickle puffing brain dead dame to wreck her career on celluloid and that guy is bottom of the barrel wizardry.

Wake up Zeeple, you are being hoodwinked by a very bloated and very lonely wannabe engineer.

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I understand your frustation. I’ve been in this hobby for almost five years and I’ve seen my fair share of bs and snake oils, but I don’t think it is right to enter a community and start ranting or cussing.

I’ll share my view on Zeos. I personally never take his review videos as the ultimatum judgement of an audio product. I think there are flaws in his review that’s not suitable for my sound preference. For me, his reviews are closer to an impression videos rather than something that I consider as a review, but that’s okay. That doesn’t make Zeos completely useless and full of shit because Z has something that no other reviewers have, audience reach and support from audio companies. If you’ve been long enough in this hobby, you’ll know that the hobby was slowly dying, and Z has done a significant contribution in bringing more people to this hobby.

If you find something odd or faulty from a reviewer, you can come and share your findings. What you find odd or weird and how it should’ve been. Don’t start ranting mindlessly and cussing because that will only make the community worse. Inform other people on what to look out for and discuss whether your findings are true or not. We are not dumb, we can see if someone is being a mindless fanboy or being hateful. After all, we are here for the hobby, not for the reviewer right?

Lastly, I’ll encourage you to also browse on other forums like headphones.com, SBAF, head-fi or even ASR, to see for yourself what other people think about a product. As for anything, you will find flaws from all forums, but it’s your decision whether you want to make the community better or not.

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A great example of @ZeosPantera bringing new people to the hobby would be ME…
His video basically saved me from buying ATH-M50X and I got addicted to binge watching his videos for a certain time of my life. That basically marked me and now I am stuck in this hobby XD

To reviews in general…
Its like every other type of products people are looking to buy. You need to watch different reviews, because different people will have different perspectives, different preferences and different opinions…

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Actually I don’t get paid to hype anything. I do get a percentage of sales via affiliate links, but that is almost all products on almost all platforms. So I have no reason to shill one headphone/product over another because in the end they will all go to paying my bills.

SO… It makes way more sense to just be honest.

Also, if I do hate a product or want to NOT recommend it. I can always link to products I do recommend.

So, why lie/shill if I don’t have to?

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I am not particulaly a “fanboy” of his for sure buuut…

I wouldn’t say he’s particular a shill… hes opinionated and has a love for a lot of pieces of hardware… nothing wrong with that at all… your more than welcome to disagree with him, I sure as hell do as a lot of our preferences definitely don’t line up… the only time I called shill was over the pc38x as I fully believe that, outside of competitive gaming, it really just isn’t all that good in my opinion… everything in this hobby is purely subjective opinion and personal preference… we hear things differently so it only makes sense that we inevitably will disagree. I think Zeos is personally a damn fine reviewer, but he could do well to go a bit more in-depth on some of his reviews as he can be a bit vague or hard to comprehend what he’s trying to explain at the same time…

Just my two cents on it really… and zeos if your reading this, I do watch you quite often please do keep up the work man.

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Sometimes I am on it, Sometimes I am not, and I rarely do a second take. One of the benefits of doing a review every single day is you learn to lay down your thoughts, no matter how insane or incoherant, and move on. Lots more gear to play with.

I do think my vocab could use a polishing but depth requires me to care about things more then I currently do.

And in all honesty, I am glad I don’t OBSESS over things like some reviewers. Im here to play music and have a good time, if it all works out and the cost isn’t too high it gets a nod. If something is mid, I get through it and find something else.

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I can watch or read any other review if I want info, but none of that mean more to me than “FUCK YOU, KOSS.”

I’m in the deep end with Koss products and… yeah. Fuck you Koss. Really does express both the good and the bad. :laughing:

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625×626

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This particular “Fuck you” got me KPH30i`s… And it is positive statement, to be clear.

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Who cares if he’s a shill I watch for the lulz anyway. There are 30+ other reviewers out there so if a particular product tickles your giggle stick look them up to for their take.

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:vulcan_salute::neutral_face: fanboy here.

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That’s me! He was talking about me! #interwebfamous Where do I collect my royalty checks? …that Dethonray Honey is taunting me.

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It is really so simple… If you do not like how Zeos does reviews, don’t frickin watch his channel(s). There is no need to run around whining because someone is more successful than you are.

I personally enjoy his videos for their information and entertainment value, if that makes me a “Fan Boy”, then so be it…

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Z is who really got me into this world, so I owe him that debt of gratitude. I enjoy how enthusiastic he can get, but really don’t care for how much bad language he’s using in his videos now. :frowning:

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I’d really be surprised if a significant portion of the people here ONLY listen to Z’s reviews.

I like Z, and think he is the most entertaining. He has his own style and preferences, like everyone else, but his ears aren’t my ears. The things he says are mostly subjective, just like the things everyone else says about their preferences.

I like to listen to other peoples reviews. DMS, Joshua Valour, The Headphone show, BGGR, etc. I like reviews about things I’m interested in, and there are no reviewers out there that have my exact preferences, so I have to listen to a lot of them to form an opinion I’m confident with.

Even things like the Harman target, is still subjective. Your hearing isn’t the exact same as everyone else’s so your ideal target might be different. Your ideal target will also change depending on what you’re listening to, what activity you are doing (movies/gaming/etc) the specific genre of those things, and your general mindset. It is useful information to see how a headphone compares to it though. You can use this info to help you speed up the eq process (if you are into that) or better pair it with your equipment, and to get a general sense of what type of character a pair of headphones has. But ultimately the Harman target is just a guide.

Sorry im getting off topic… is Z a shill? Well if your definition of a shill is; A person making a sales pitch, or promoting a product; Then of course he is a shill. He is a shill for stuff he likes. He isn’t required to be an impartial 3rd party. He’s a human, he has his own preferences, and he is open about them.

However, if your definition of a shill is; A swindler who pretends to be enthusiastic about a product, in order to sell said product; Then I really just see no evidence for that. I mean, most other reviewers tend to agree to a reasonable enough degree with his reviews, that you would have to think there is some sort of headphone conspiracy going on, to actually support a shill claim. Just because your favorite reviewer might disagree, doesn’t mean Z is full of shit, or vice versa. Is Z a bit dramatic at times /shrug, sure.

We know how he gets paid. He’s open about it, and its not like youtubers getting paid is some new cryptic thing at this point. He’s allowed to get paid for his time and effort. If you don’t value his reviews, don’t pay him by watching his videos, using his affiliate links, or interacting with his community on this forum.

As for the claims that we are all suckling the larger than average, in the right lighting, Z dick, well… I haven’t had the pleasure, but the rumor on the street is that Z has the best tasting dick in the entire headphone review game. So it would make sense…

Anyone else bored? I’m gonna go make a sandwich.

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Pick up useful info from his youtube and so far Zeos ear for cheap speaker audio hasnt let me down. Also i swear like a sailor. So suppose nibbler of the tip.

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I rather like Z. He’s often the one reviewer I’m most interested in hearing from. He’s helped a past audiophile like me sort out what to buy–and I think that’s a reviewer’s #1 job. He’s focused on that.

The thing is, like 99% of reviewers out there have a hectic life of running through reviews. They can’t live with the equipment, or settle for one particular thing like most consumers. If they put everything on blast, no one wants to hear it. If they put most things on a golden pedestal, people cry and whine.

Reviewers have the problem of trying to cover a product without alienating their viewers. They have to cover many different bases for their fans. That one time they say, “Bloated bass” or “simbliance” someone might close out of the video. Many reviewers take this too strongly, and you can tell those videos are very half-hearted.

With Z, too, I think he’s less immune to graphs and measurements. If it sounds good, it sounds good. Other reviewers often say, “This headphone sounds good, but compared to the Harmon target…” or “It doesn’t skip tracks so it’s not as good as…” and it’s like that’s a big bash against the product.

Z focuses on what’s good about a product. If that resonates with you, great, buy it. If it doesn’t… eh.

10-12 years ago, I was in the blooming audiophile community and it was great. You wanted a headphone for rock, you got Grados. Bass? Denon. Shit was simple; if shit sounded good, it was good. Nowadays it seems like graphs and measurements and boxes need to be perfect to make the wheels spin.

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I remember those days!

I do enjoy this forum more than the ones I used to frequent.

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Yeah… back then I was on Head-Fi and it was good, but a bit elitist at times. I loved the initial wave of T50rp and modding… those were the wild days.

This is my second post here, but been a Z watcher for years. Mostly going over user comments over buying a new set of overear cans.

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Haha I was there modding my t50rps during that time too. Fun times and I completely agree.

Well welcome to hifi guides!

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