[Currawong]

The best advice I ever read was to see what people who like the same music as you own. More than anything I've found that makes the most significant difference, primarily in headphone choices. The rest is just...the rest.

 

[ktm]

I  find 90% of reviews to be useless. People hearing a decent set of
cans for the 1st time can find anything amazing.
There are a few people who's opinion I value.
But in the end headphones are a very personal taste.
That's why there are meets. I can normally weed out the bad/mediocre
cans pretty quickly. I really don't care about cables, either pro or con.
I believe they can make a bit of difference, but that doesn't make or break the review.
Custom cables can be pretty $$$ and you are never going to get your
money back buying new and selling used. I have some, but I didn't pay much for them.
The real issue I have is why suddenly every new headphone has to be $1k plus?
Right now I'm getting plenty of use out of a $100 used set of Q701's and a $200
MG head amp. Yes, i did the dreaded "tube rolling" and put in an unknown 12at7
tube that I've had kicking around for decades. other than it's a US vintage tube,
I have no idea what it is. I'm sure someone will not like the idea, but it sounds good to me.
It also doesn't sound too bad running out of the headphone jack of my vintage Sansui AU-999.
My Senn hd-650's sound great out of the Sansui. I think I'll bring the Sansui to the next Dallas meet.
Please don't trust my ears. Go listen for yourself.

 

[Spyro]

Pretty simple actually but like any kind of studying, it's takes time to learn.  I have been a member on HF for 12 years now and have done countless reviews.  Are mine the Holy Grail?  Of course not.
 
The key is to find reviews that you can identify with or that you AGREE with the reviewer.  Then moving forward you can probably trust that persons's review because you hear things similarly that they do.  Obviously this takes time hanging out and reviewing things on HF but well worth it.  I often get PM's from people thanking me for helping them and shortening their learning curve.  Makes me feel good.

 

[TripBitShooter]

I have done my fair share of reviews on my own website and on head fi, and people have PMed me before asking how does something sound compared to another. Personally, I prefer it when people ask me for comparisons as it makes it easier for me to describe how it sounds like, using another headphone as a benchmark.

 

[Shaffer]

There are 3 people (here) who's reviews I trust.

 

[skippy]

Man ... back in the days of Headwize, the community was so small you knew who the golden ears were and who the newbies were.  Even when Jude started Head-fi, most of us knew each others tastes.  Now when I go here for a review, I don't know anyone.  There are so many people that will give anything a positive review on the forums these days.  I guess it's just a good excuse to try out all these new headphones.

 

[uli87]

I haven't been on here as long as some other guys (I did lurk for a few years though) and currently there are only a few select I can trust with reviews:
 
Shotgunshane, Project86, average_joe, Joker are the ones that come to mind. Sometimes I find a guy who expresses my exact opinions on something and so I am naturally opened to hear what else he has to say.
 
The rest of this place is a mixture of new toy syndrome, hype, trend. I shake my head when I see someone post a review/opinion where he is glorifying his new headphones and at the same time totally ripping on his older (month old) set which was absolutely perfect to him a month ago. I understand that sound preferences change but when I see someone say something like:
 
"X has an unbelievably huge soundstage" and then after acquiring Y "Y makes X seems like a closed headphone" I'm like

 

 

[Currawong]

@warrenpchi IIRC completely pwned a rather troublesome (and now banned, since he became quite abusive) member for doing that. Maybe he will have bookmarked the post.

 

[Shaffer]

I like Skylab and Project86, along with Brooko whose audio philosophy is an almost complete opposite of mine. Their reviews are comparative, thoughtful, and well-written based on extended listening. This, compared to someone who posts a "review" just a few hours after receiving the product in the mail.

 

[SilentFrequency]

I like Skylab and Project86, along with Brooko whose audio philosophy is an almost complete opposite of mine. Their reviews are comparative, thoughtful, and well-written based on extended listening. This, compared to someone who posts a "review" just a few hours after receiving the product in the mail.

I really like Brooko's reviews too, especially his flagship comparisons

I would do a review of my hd800's but tbh I don't feel I have enough experience to do so and also, maybe there are enough made already here for anyone to be interested in a new comers thoughts?

 

[lofthanza]

I kind of have another trust issue with some reviews, too. Some companies send a sample product to major reviewers to have them publish reviews online. The idea of the company sending a slightly better than average product to the reviewer comes to mind. That slight increase in performance will ensure a better review and wont make the reviewed product seem irrelevant to the product we are buying. I wish major reviewers, innerfidilety, headfonia, cnet and others could afford to buy the product themselves for reviews.

 

[TripBitShooter]

Lachlanlikesathing, a youtube reviewer, sometimes crowdsources funds from his viewers to buy headphones for headphone reviews, but other than that, it would be close to impossible to find a review of say, a HD800 or a Stax Electrostatic headphone due to them being so high in price. This is where i find your reasoning that reviewers should buy the headphones for themselves very flawed. A review of the sennheiser orpheus ($16k) would be nonexistent

 

[Currawong]

I kind of have another trust issue with some reviews, too. Some companies send a sample product to major reviewers to have them publish reviews online. The idea of the company sending a slightly better than average product to the reviewer comes to mind. That slight increase in performance will ensure a better review and wont make the reviewed product seem irrelevant to the product we are buying. I wish major reviewers, innerfidilety, headfonia, cnet and others could afford to buy the product themselves for reviews.

 
Knowing what I know, I find that highly unlikely. Not that it isn't possible, but more so that we trust the people at the companies enough to know that they wouldn't try something like that. It would almost certainly be discovered and backfire against the company, permanently destroying their reputation.

 

[TripBitShooter]

Yup it would be discovered pretty quick. Plus, Tyll of innerfidelity does buy the cans he likes for the wall of fame, so any discrepancies hw notices will immediately come to light.

 

[paradoxper]

I know for a fact a very popular manufacturer in the portable industry has offered incentives for reviews.