Are Professional Reviewers Repeat Hyperbole Offenders?

[Ron Resnick]

My disenchantment with the reviews by professional reviewers in The Absolute Sound has increased over time. I am tired of reviews which are full of hyperbole and which lack introspection; reviews in which a new breakthrough is discovered each month; and reviews which conclude virtually every month that the component under review is the best the reviewer has ever heard and represents yet another, newly-realized level of sonic excellence.

For example, Robert Greene recently reviewed very favorably in The Absolute Sound the Muraudio PX-1 Omnidirectional Electrostatic speaker. His hyperbole hose was gushing! Robert wrote:

"The PX1s are one of the all-time triumphs of speaker design."

"This is really a landmark in speakers, a huge step in a new direction that previously hardly figured in anyone else’s imagination, much less in reality."

". . . f the omni sound is your audio goal, this is a speaker almost without competition."

"I think of the closing lines of “St. James Infirmary”: “She can search this whole wide world over, she won’t find another man like me” -- or a speaker like this one. A nonpareil if ever there was one."
​

What about the current MartinLogan electrostatic hybrid speakers? What about the Sanders ESL? What about comparing the PX1 to the omnidirectional MBL 101E Mk. II -- a direct competitor -- which is in the same price range?

This post is to suggest to you that breathlessly favorable descriptions of a speaker in a vacuum -- with no reference to competing speakers, and with no explanations of comparisons and contrasts between or among competing speakers -- really tell us nothing except that the reviewer liked the speaker now under review better than the prior speaker he reviewed. And that is not very helpful to us at all.

I hope that by comparing and contrasting in my reviews the speakers I have auditioned you will understand better what I heard, and you will be able to make more accurate deductions about how you would perceive the sonic attributes I am describing. I truly hope my reviews are more helpful to you than the reviews we see in The Absolute Sound.

 

[Folsom]

They seem afraid to compare products. But that's the best reference, typically. Reading your review of Pendragons gave me some perspective when talking about the other speakers.

I'm not sure what to expect from review sites all the time. It has to be somewhat complicated to be around for so many years and still trying to offer something useful that works for all parties involved. But one does have to expect some advancements in sound so perhaps at times they really are hearing something at a higher level. I tend to only really believe they think the product is something if it is given an award. But that doesn't mean those are the only products that are going to fit someone's needs.

So many products simply fill potential markets, and are not all-to-inspired in any particular way. That's fine, but the point you're getting at being they can't all be God's gift to audiophiles, is justified. But for that to come up in reviews adds a serious cut-throat nature to the industry so I can see why many fear it. Should we encourage a bit lower diversity by really putting products down that don't do it for us? There is a risk that adding in price points means everything will be made in China, too.

Forums and people with experience sure are a lot more helpful. And then there's in person experience if you can get it.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

Of course. This is extremely mature technology. I suppose it depends on how you define breakthrough, but I'd go for paradigm-shifting innovation, not small evolution. And by that standard, any breakthroughs, much less monthly breakthroughs, are very rare. Most reviewers aren't journalists, and they certainly aren't critics. Their critical thinking skills seem to be on a par with wide-eyed freshman girls talking about a dreamy varsity quarterback.

What's worse, when writers come along who actually are analytical and indulge in critical thinking, audiophiles vilify them. So we have exactly what we have bargained for.

Tim

 

[LL21]

Absolutely agree, Ron, with your efforts to provide some level of comparison. There are few if any absolutes in audio...particularly when many listeners listen differently/hear differently anyway. A different hearing frequency response between two people, and we're already off to a bad start.

But i absolutely enjoy comparisons because [as general guidance] they give a sense, a flavor of what the component is like. Since i cannot always hear things for myself, it helps to have comparisons to things I have auditioned seriously before. When I audition, I usually take an audition piece out...put something i know well in its place and listen for the differences. If I like, i take it home to place in my system. Do that enough with the same few components, and I start to learn a little bit.

Your comparisons are a vicarious opportunity for us to do something similar where we cannot be at the audition...and instead get to do it through your experience . Thanks for that...good fun and very informative.

 

[still-one]

I don't think professional reviewers are close to be as hyperbolic as the average "audiophile" poster. How often we see "blows X out of the water", "a night and day differences", "jaw dropping", "better than products costing five times as much"...................

 

[Gregadd]

There is an inherent problem iin attempting to describe what we hear with the written word. The problem is compounded by our love of music and the equipment it is played through. That is why I don't believe in first impressions. That does not mean that extended listening will mske you immune to hyperbole or exageration. We have to come to grips with the proposition that there is no language that can accurately describe what we hear.
There are those who beleive the descriptions are not hyperbole but a delusion(illusion)
I recall my most frustrating phrase"snaps into focus." I just never expereinced that.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

There is an inherent problem iin attempting to describe what we hear with the written word. The problem is compounded by our love of music and the equipment it is played through. That is why I don't believe in first impressions. That does not mean that extended listening will mske you immune to hyperbole or exageration. We have to come to grips with the proposition that there is no language that can accurately describe what we hear.
There are those who beleive the descriptions are not hyperbole but a delusion(illusion)
I recall my most frustrating phrase"snaps into focus." I just never expereinced that.

Me either. If it's focused, it's focused. No snapping involved. And of course we'd be lucky if any two of us agreed on what "focused" means.

Tim