What makes a good reviewer?

[Gregm]

I have read many reviews in my time and spoken to a few of their writers, so here is my take (random order)
1) Exposure to live music with acoustic instruments... so they know what a violin, or a piano, or a tom-tom etc sounds like (more or less, of course, depending on mastering)
2) Experience in setting up a system correctly, and some understanding of room acoustics -- so any flaws attributed to components are not the fault of the setup (or are predictably so)
3) Entertaining -- as noted above --
4) Have at hand a number of good masterings of difficult musical pieces -- a well-recorded Mahler-2 comes to mind, or a requiem or two.
----- Ethical-- it goes without saying ---

Having said the above, I realise that it is difficult to publish deeply negative commentary and that I will have to read between the lines on many occasions, but so be it!

 

[tima]

I have read many reviews in my time and spoken to a few of their writers, so here is my take (random order)
1) Exposure to live music with acoustic instruments... so they know what a violin, or a piano, or a tom-tom etc sounds like (more or less, of course, depending on mastering)
2) Experience in setting up a system correctly, and some understanding of room acoustics -- so any flaws attributed to components are not the fault of the setup (or are predictably so)
3) Entertaining -- as noted above --
4) Have at hand a number of good masterings of difficult musical pieces -- a well-recorded Mahler-2 comes to mind, or a requiem or two.
----- Ethical-- it goes without saying ---

Having said the above, I realise that it is difficult to publish deeply negative commentary and that I will have to read between the lines on many occasions, but so be it!

I agree about exposure to live acoustic music and I like your music example. What do you like as a well-recorded Mahler 2 (in vinyl) ?

 

[Gregm]

The recent Jurowski / LPO is excellent but I am not sure you can find it on vinyl (it's an interesting performance in and of its own. The Abbado / Chicago SO on DG is well recorded and shoul;d be available on vinyl. Why not check out the Klemperer / Bayerische, live version on EMI, if you can find it in the original pressing - i.e. not remastered, remodelled, etc.
Finally, for a "full-fat" version of teh 5th, why not opt for Sir John (Barbi) / New Philarmonia on EMI !
Regards

 

[Bobvin]

I will say a good reviewer must have, first and foremost, an ability to use language to engage the reader beyond typical use of jargon. Lifting veils and opening windows—aaargh! Ultimately it is an ability to communicate with words—no one can see your gestures or facial expression. A little bit of poetry skills won’t hurt. Dry, pedantic, or overly verbose will lose me and then I’m done and can’t hear the writer any longer. Tell me a story, paint me a picture. Use examples, not just metaphors.

I think it would be a difficult assignment, trying to describe minute details or slight variations in color or tone without being able to point to something else and say “see that, right there, thats what I’m talking about.” Like trying to describe aliasing in a jpeg without zooming in or going to the extreme.

Of course, honesty and integrity.

 

[Ron Resnick]

The only reviews that can be trusted for consumer goods are made by Consumer Reports. They purchase all items to be reviewed and accept no advertisements. No politics, no long term loans, no free products, no "reviewers discount," etc.

I think that is true as long as you are talking about dishwashers and vacuum cleaners. I think their automotive reviews bear little relation to what it is like to actually drive and spend a lot of time in the cars they review.

Their automotive reviews are about as tone deaf and irrelevant to what the car is really like to drive and to live in as measurements "reviews" are about the sounds of our high-end audio components.

 

[PeterA]

I think that is true as long as you are talking about dishwashers and vacuum cleaners. I think their automotive reviews bear little relation to what it is like to actually drive and spend a lot of time in the cars they review.

Their automotive reviews are about as tone deaf and irrelevant to what the car is really like to drive and to live in as measurements "reviews" are about the sounds of our high-end audio components.

Ron, safety crash test reports, acceleration, repair costs, operating costs, retention of value, etc, all of that is very relevant to the car buying public that is looking for that kind of information. Whether or not the report is tone deaf to the driving experience is irrelevant if the report delivers the information the reader wants to know. The reader can also read Road and Track, Car and Driver or watch all sorts on YouTube videos about the currently available cars. He/she can also go and drive the car him/herself to discover the driving experience. The dealer, conversely, is not going to talk much about crash tests (unless they sell volvos) or operating costs or reliability, or resale value. Consumer Reports is also valuable to the used car buyer. It's simply more information.

The measurement section in Stereophile is also more information for those who want it. Some can read and interpret the measurement results and gleam useful insights into how the component may or may not react to his other components or room even. One can also talk to audio dealers, read reviews, demo the components at dealerships or friends houses.

What is important is that the consumer has sources of information that he can trust. Often in the high end audio hobby, reviews are little more than marketing prose or show reports splashed in glossy magazines.

Look at the rise of audio forums, and the quality of formal magazine reviews. Something is not right when long time readers let there subscriptions lapse because they no longer care to read the magazines, slowly lose respect for reviewers, share stories of "inside deals", shake their heads when people refer to wires as components, and describe stuff as voodoo and snake oil. The audiophile is deciding what is most useful to him. How about when the magazines are described as "entertaining"? That says a lot between the lines.

Say what you want about Consumer Reports, but Jeff has a point. Readers want unbiased reporting, clear information, and something useful from reviews or reports. Sadly, some audio stuff I read looks as though it would be just as comfortable displayed in the Robb Report as it is in some of the audio magazines.

I respect good audio journalism. And I truly appreciate the time and effort that must go into a good and useful review, because it must be incredibly difficult to write. Tim wrote a wonderful post above. I simply wish there were more such reviewers.

 

[cjfrbw]

To borrow from the legal quagmire, what representation is present and who is being represented? Does an audio critic represent the customers or the industry? Does an audio critic who meticulously represents the customers wind up being less successful than a critic who represents the industry? Is it possible to be 'ethical' on some middle ground of dual representation aka both the customers AND the industry? What are the shades of gray between promotion, advertising and 'critical evaluation'?

It does seem that to be a 'successful' critic, some level of dual representation is necessary or the critic does not survive. The industry will gravitate towards critics who give a 'fair shake', don't excessively condemn, and still manage through verbal legerdemain to create some promotional appearance to reviews. These 'successful' critics will also cowtow to audio belief systems that can dominate segments of the industry. These belief systems can be nearly pure examples of marketing making it so. The word religious might be too strong, but maybe you could call them wishful thinking based on expectation demand and bias.

It does not mean the reviews cease to be entertaining or informative.

I would posit the example of critic who does not promote expensive cables/tweaks/myriad profitable accessories, or feels that it is his job to represent customers only, wherever that may take him(her) down a road of negative reviews. Such a critic is dead in the water, and will never get anywhere. He/she has failed to 'represent' both the manufacturers who promote these items AND the customers who, ironically, demand them and want reportage on such products.

However, like Nelson Pass says, this is entertainment, not brain surgery, so loosy goosy standards and ethics aren't necessarily that out of bounds.

If I were a 'professional' audio critic, I would never stand on the ground of absolute ethics, i would feel more than a bit disingenuous and silly doing so.

There seems to be a huge market now for expensive and status oriented bling, lots of loose shekels rattling round. I don't know that denying these customers their desire for grandiosity and display serves any useful purpose although it can at times cloud the pursuit of actual sound quality. It also allows the freedom to generate expensive audio art objects that seem to mainly exist AS art objects. Yeah, I really like a lot of those art objects, too.

 

[tima]

The recent Jurowski / LPO is excellent but I am not sure you can find it on vinyl (it's an interesting performance in and of its own. The Abbado / Chicago SO on DG is well recorded and shoul;d be available on vinyl. Why not check out the Klemperer / Bayerische, live version on EMI, if you can find it in the original pressing - i.e. not remastered, remodelled, etc.
Finally, for a "full-fat" version of teh 5th, why not opt for Sir John (Barbi) / New Philarmonia on EMI !
Regards

Wonderful choices. From my music album here at WBF