I don’t think Z is a shill. He’s enthusiastic about what he likes and is uninhibited about expressing it. I don’t think he hesitates to give a thumbs down, either. Sometimes his opinions align with my own, sometimes not. That’s expected.
Where Z rarely gets enough credit is his in depth review of the functionality of a device. He’ll go through damn near every option and function of what he’s reviewing. He reads the manual so I don’t have to. He’ll reveal tips and caveats that aren’t in the manual or not clearly documented. When I buy an item Z has reviewed, I already know exactly how to use it. That’s pretty fucking cool.
Ehh… not all the time, but you can’t knock someone for skipping over a small bit. Devices and powered equipment and headphones, he handles pretty well.
But me and others find he doesn’t do IEM reviews too well. No tip rolling, for example, so reviews like the Legacy 4 are lack-luster to him when others love them after they tried different tips.
Don’t know if he’s necessarily a shill. But I think he definitely enjoys knowing that people bought something because of him and the money he gets in return and free gear he also receives probably dosent help. I don’t think he’s necessarily a bad person trying to just make money but he definitely likes to lean on the side that helps him earn money and get more free stuff imo
Honestly the best idea is a mix between metric and imperial. a metric version of inches would be nice, much easier to reference between 12 inches than 30 cm when approximating length and picking items in your head to visualize the length (I’m American so I may not be understanding something in my fantasies)
Well, in terms of thoroughly going over things. He kinda just throws on Dekoni tips and talks about the sound of an IEM. IEMs are like headphones that come with a variety of pads, and if you always go for your “go to” pads for an IEM, it might not best reflect them.
I don’t trust his ears or his sound descriptions, but he’s is the best reviewer for discussing everything else, I think.
r/headphones seems to have a pretty hard hate-boner for Zeos. Just because he likes most things to some amount doesn’t make him a shill imo. Rather, we are all shills for the stuff we like because we want others to like it as well.
I think it’s just that he isn’t as critical when reviewing as some other reviewers, but that’s okay. He wants to like everything, he wants to enjoy everything. If it doesn’t live up to his expectations, he makes it clear. He’s pretty conscious he’s gonna hurt the wallets of those that impulse buy (oof).
If he wasn’t enthusiastic and got you and I excited about the things we all have a common interest in we wouldn’t keep watching his videos. If we don’t watch there are no checks from YouTube, no affiliate links get clicked, no patreon or telephone chat income, and no complimentary products get sent that might ultimately end up in a “yard sale.”
So in other words, be a shill or go get a real job. No reason to be a hater though just because he figured out a better gig than you or I. Not to mention cat food is expensive.
Aren’t all reviewers shills to some extent? Objective reviews are shilling the charts and the subjective ones are shilling for the experience kind of thing? Either way it all amounts to the consumer buying the product. Whether or not it helps us make a choice is one we all have to decide. The reviewers are always there just to persuade us in one direction or the other since they themselves have a bias of their own in terms of sound preferences and criteria of what’s “good”.
Always important to remember what you like and to compare it to what the reviewer likes.
I must admit, I bought gl2000 because I wanted to hear what Zeos preferred. It’s different from my normally preferred sound and it worked out to be a good choice. I like them a lot.
I never rely on a reviewer to tell me if the headphones good or what they sound like. I prefer these forums where more impressions and povs are expressed so there’s an actual pool of opinions and not just a few reviewers with their own personal bias.
So honestly, all reviewers are shills. It’s their job. But the question is, which one do you trust? Who aligns with your preferences more? Who tells you what works and what doesn’t and why? Did they shill you a good product or did it fall off the hype train? Do they use these headphones for music, games, movies, or just podcasting? How extensive is their understanding of how well these headphones will work for it’s use such as gaming or specific genres of interest? There are too many variables to say that reviewers can tell you exactly what you want or even if it sound good to you. It’s why we keep coming back these forums isn’t it?
Might be different if the hunt is for the best of the best though I guess.
Z is not a shill he is a audio nut of the first order. How do i know, well he incriminates himeself by straping a camera to his forehead and runs around his home in the woods filled with audio gear.
I guess it depends on your definition of a shill. In my case I see a shill as someone who backs and promotes a specific company’s products even when they’re bad, to the exclusion of competitors.
I don’t see this kind of behavior from Z, so count me as a no.
Every rec of Zeos I ended up buying were worth it 100%. But I had some bad experiences with recs from super “scientific”, measuring oriented reviewers.
People think Zeos is a Shill because of his personality. But looks might deceive people.
To be fair there are so many headphones that are at least enjoyable one way or another that in not surprised that he can enjoy this or that. The reason why I would call him a shill is because he keeps on trying to justify them as much as possible so that anyone buys them.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I just did a quick check of subscribers and Zeos looks to be by far the largest channel of the audio reviewers realm. More than John Darko, Steve “Audiophiliac” Guttenberg and any other large audio reviewer presence I can think of. That’s a lot of power.
So yeah, the shark has been jumped, not that there’s anything wrong with it, as long as there’s some semblance of honesty kept. Everyone’s gotta make a living, but the credibility score of late is a lil sus.
Then again the last thing I bought solely based on Z’s recommendation was the M1060, going on two years now maybe? So it’s been a while. The biggest left turn for me from the channel was the Monolith LP amp. Lukewarm at best in Z’s review a long time ago… Yet it happens to be a well respected little unit in this forum.
I think the most beneficial thing one can do in this hobby is learn what your hearing and your tastes are like, then talk to or get advice from knowledgeable folks that can have a real conversation about your likes and make recommendations based on that and their experience on this forum. Which is how I came to buy the Monolith Liquid Platinum.
How many on this forum paid $800 for LP, rather than $290 - $500?
Plus, with Z the “tubeiness” has to be intense for him to sign-up. Most here live with more nuance.
