Low bar means hardly any dissapointments
I have nothing with reviewers really .
Stopped reading 12 years ago .
What manufacturers have to say is much more interesting
What is a reviewer?
- Thread starter Elliot G.
- Start date
Low bar means hardly any dissapointments
I have nothing with reviewers really .
Stopped reading 12 years ago .
What manufacturers have to say is much more interesting
to me a hifi reviewer is anyone who tries gear to talk about it, without an agenda to likely own the gear. OTOH buying and selling, cycling through gear that way, is something different. whereas you have to talk it up to sell it and keep the process going. on line bloggers who cycle through gear are especially low value data points as it's such an agenda rich situation trying for clicks. some become/or are dealers. that's the lowest value data point. why bother?
entertainment is always a factor, of course. nothing wrong with liking those blogs. just don't get too carried away....and end up holding the bag.
so the process of gear acquisition and disposal separates reviewers and lesser semi-enthusiast cases. nothing wrong with being an enthusiast, and they might have more street cred in particular cases. i just don't view it as formal reviewing.
and when a reviewer is buying the gear, or owns it, i consider the time owned to judge the reviewer perspective. if they have owned it for 3-4 years, that then means something different to me. if it's long term (over 12 months) loaned, then that again means another thing.
no right or wrong to any of this, simply how i value it. it's all data points, just like hearing gear at shows. and not all data points are created equal.
i do almost always value (positively and negatively) what an enthusiast known to me says, more significantly (again positive or negative) than a reviewer. especially if i have a rapport with that person.
writing a good review is a completely separate subject. back in the day i wrote a couple of hifi reviews/articles and determined i did not have the hunger to properly learn that craft and packed it in. i respect the effort involved. it was temping to go down the accommodation acquisition road, but i would rather shoot from the hip as the mood dictates, and just have fun.
entertainment is always a factor, of course. nothing wrong with liking those blogs. just don't get too carried away....and end up holding the bag.
so the process of gear acquisition and disposal separates reviewers and lesser semi-enthusiast cases. nothing wrong with being an enthusiast, and they might have more street cred in particular cases. i just don't view it as formal reviewing.
and when a reviewer is buying the gear, or owns it, i consider the time owned to judge the reviewer perspective. if they have owned it for 3-4 years, that then means something different to me. if it's long term (over 12 months) loaned, then that again means another thing.
no right or wrong to any of this, simply how i value it. it's all data points, just like hearing gear at shows. and not all data points are created equal.
i do almost always value (positively and negatively) what an enthusiast known to me says, more significantly (again positive or negative) than a reviewer. especially if i have a rapport with that person.
writing a good review is a completely separate subject. back in the day i wrote a couple of hifi reviews/articles and determined i did not have the hunger to properly learn that craft and packed it in. i respect the effort involved. it was temping to go down the accommodation acquisition road, but i would rather shoot from the hip as the mood dictates, and just have fun.
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nothing wrong with buying reviewed gear, or reviewing gear you might want to buy. and i did not infer that. but when that happens such a review is a different thing than a formal review without those factors, in my mind. might end up being more valuable, or less. it just depends.
i think it's simply important to equip yourself with knowledge about where reviewers are coming from. then just enjoy and learn with as much context as possible. and if you personally know the reviewer or are familiar with their review history even better.
personally i do enjoy reading reviews on gear i relate to, and filing it in my memory. it fills out my data points to understand things. and it's mostly enjoyable......sometimes very.
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