[roskodan]

From what i can tell, the person in question doesn't have a wide and deep enough understanding of what is it that he is dealing with.

His effort to impose himself to the original innerfidelity audience, which is clearly never gonna be his audience, is just immature and childish.

Which is evident by his censoring of everything that he doesn't understand. Sad.

Little update.

Seems my comment on IF wasn't censured, it's just that Rafe is a one man show, managing editor, reviewer and moderator among other things. It took a day or two for my comment to get the green light.

 

[rgs9200m]

I hope IF doesn't turn into Headphones For Dummies.

 

[VandyMan]

After getting a really nasty reply from Rafe to some pretty mild criticism, I posted that I would not be reading IF anymore. I went back a few days later to see if there had been a reply to a question I asked in another topic and found that he had deleted ALL of my posts and my account.

 

[Roscoeiii]

After getting a really nasty reply from Rafe to some pretty mild criticism, I posted that I would not be reading IF anymore. I went back a few days later to see if there had been a reply to a question I asked in another topic and found that he had deleted ALL of my posts and my account.

Oof. This behavior drives me nuts.

Just what IF needs, a petty, thin-skinned editor with little to no headphone experience who can rapidly alienate its core readership.

 

[Roscoeiii]

Newest press release is out (Absolute Sound had identical quotes from Fang in their press release...):

https://www.innerfidelity.com/content/hifiman-announce-easy-drive-ananda-open-back-planar

 

[Argyris]

Okay, now it's three fluff articles in a row.

At least when Tyll did one of these press release-type articles, it was usually because he had either secured or was attempting to secure a sample of the model or lineup in question and was touching base with the readership (many of whom often repeatedly asked "have you gotten a sample of x yet?"). Often times he also shared initial impressions if he'd had the opportunity to listen (usually something like "my first impressions were positive but I'll wait until I've had more time with x before coming to a final verdict").

Again, I don't want to be openly negative, but at this point that's more for decorum reasons than anything else. I don't have high hopes for the future usefulness of IF.

 

[Roscoeiii]

Okay, now it's three fluff articles in a row.

At least when Tyll did one of these press release-type articles, it was usually because he had either secured or was attempting to secure a sample of the model or lineup in question and was touching base with the readership (many of whom often repeatedly asked "have you gotten a sample of x yet?"). Often times he also shared initial impressions if he'd had the opportunity to listen (usually something like "my first impressions were positive but I'll wait until I've had more time with x before coming to a final verdict").

Again, I don't want to be openly negative, but at this point that's more for decorum reasons than anything else. I don't have high hopes for the future usefulness of IF.

And there are some interesting discussions about the Ananda on these forums (IIRC, surrounding whether they use the drivers used in the HEX (or another model in the line) inserted a different housing, which some measurements suggest) that he could have pointed out. Heck, that IF measurements could help clarify. Rafe seems either unaware of these discussions, or content to just post another warmed over press release.

 

[catscratch]

The usefulness of IF going forward will depend on how they measure headphones, and whether or not they build up a consistent database of measurements on the same system that allows people to compare headphones to one another. I'm sort of holding off judgement until I see how they handle that.

As far as Rafe, well... he's got quite literally the biggest shoes to fill in the headphone review business, and he's been met with a constant barrage of negativity, so some testiness on his part is understandable. At the same time, he has to understand that while IF is now his show, without an audience there IS no show, so he needs to keep the sodium levels in check, and try to not drive people away. When it comes to understanding Tyll's approach to headphone reviewing, it's clear that he doesn't, but at the same time, you have to give him some time to find his footing. Producing quality content takes time, and as it has been noted, he's not from the headphone scene.

We'll see where it goes, I guess. I'm pretty sure that whoever writes the checks for IF these days wants it to be a success, so if this crew doesn't work out, maybe another one will. In the meanwhile, I at least urge people to be civil, because hostility breeds hostility in response, and will certainly not get any point across. Stuff that comes off as hate tends to be dismissed as hate, regardless of whether or not there is any truth to the message.

 

[Roscoeiii]

The usefulness of IF going forward will depend on how they measure headphones, and whether or not they build up a consistent database of measurements on the same system that allows people to compare headphones to one another. I'm sort of holding off judgement until I see how they handle that.

As far as Rafe, well... he's got quite literally the biggest shoes to fill in the headphone review business, and he's been met with a constant barrage of negativity, so some testiness on his part is understandable. At the same time, he has to understand that while IF is now his show, without an audience there IS no show, so he needs to keep the sodium levels in check, and try to not drive people away. When it comes to understanding Tyll's approach to headphone reviewing, it's clear that he doesn't, but at the same time, you have to give him some time to find his footing. Producing quality content takes time, and as it has been noted, he's not from the headphone scene.

We'll see where it goes, I guess. I'm pretty sure that whoever writes the checks for IF these days wants it to be a success, so if this crew doesn't work out, maybe another one will. In the meanwhile, I at least urge people to be civil, because hostility breeds hostility in response, and will certainly not get any point across. Stuff that comes off as hate tends to be dismissed as hate, regardless of whether or not there is any truth to the message.

Very well put. Thank.you for sharing this.

 

[rgs9200m]

You know, if I was suddenly in charge of IF and didn't exactly know what to do (and maybe wanted to boost readership), I would find a bunch of hot topics designed to attract mainstream attention and start off with a bang.
At least it would be a legitimate start-off approach.
Some suggestions (and maybe others can chime in):

Topic 1: New Battle of the Flagships, like Utopia vs. LCD4/4Z vs. HE1kV2 vs. Susvara vs. Senn HD800S (or 800) vs. Stax 009S vs. Sony Z1R etc.

Topic 2: Tyll's unfinished business: Revisiting the Sony Z1R, Utopia, and LCD4, where there were issues of sample-variation and changes in impressions over time and general controversy in Headfi and other forums about IF reviews.

Topic 3: Beyond the Moon 430 amp. Tyll seem to use just this amp for every dynamic headphone review, and maybe a review should include several amps, both solid state and tubed to find good synergies and give a headphone a fighting chance.

Topic 4: New version series: New vs. old version comparisons of these headphones: LCD4, Stax 009, HD800, HD650. I'm sure many long term owners of the old ones are curious about upgrading (or not).

I'll let others here think of topics they would like to see. I feel some constructive criticism is in order here to assist Rafe.

 

[catscratch]

I don't know if there's a point in giving criticism here since I doubt he'll even read this. But here's what I would like to see:

For a review format, what I want is direct descriptions of the sound. As in, this is what the bass is like, this is what the mids are like, etc etc. Tyll used to do this in a very concise way that gave you an idea of how things sounded without degenerating into audiophile gibberish. This description should also relate to how the headphone measures, though obviously there will be times when listening and measurements don't align.

What I don't want to see is a review format where the reviewer says "I listened to song X and this is what I heard." This is a format designed for intentional vagueness, since it says far more about what song X sounds like than what the component under review sounds like, and is completely useless to anyone that doesn't know song X very well. Unfortunately this is also the predominant review format on most audio sites, and I definitely don't want to see it spread to IF, since it effectively destroys the site's ability to convey actual useful information.

For measurements, I want to see raw data as well as compensated data. This is vital, because without raw data it becomes harder to compare headphones and you have to assume that the compensation curve used remains constant, otherwise the whole database is null and void. It also sows more distrust in the audience, and in general they have to be very transparent and clear as to their methodology and realize that it is on them to put us at ease, and not on us to just accept whatever they're doing. We're the customer, and they're making a product, and we have to choose to consume said product, and they have to convince us it's worthwhile.

Reviews and measurements should be part of the same article. I'm only bringing this up because I think the measurements will be done in one place, and then Rafe's listening and review will be done in another. This will make integrating measurements and listening much more difficult, and in general I think it pays for one person to have both the measuring equipment and be doing the listening, because then they can correlate more easily between what they measure and what they hear. Either way, a coherent blend of listening and measurements is what we expect so they'll need to come up with some way to do this.

Speaking of us - Rafe needs to realize that most people who come to IF have an objectivist slant. They want to see listening impressions backed up by measurements. They also want to see a critical look at the industry, not an enthusiast look at the industry. Obviously, this is going to be very hard for Rafe to do since he comes from another industry, and it will take a lot of time for him to figure what's really going on (I'm assuming here based on what I've read, maybe he already knows it well). What we don't want to see is a website that's beholden to industry interests and one that intentionally glosses over problems for fear of offending leading manufacturers.

Meanwhile, it is on us to be patient and give them time do come to grips with what IF is, learn the ropes so to speak, and start producing meaningful content. Quality comes from iteration, and you have to have rough drafts before you get to the final ones. They're not going to start putting out the best reviews ever right away, and that's fine. We have to cut them some slack and back off on the personal attacks. Nevertheless, as I said before, without an audience there is no show, so they also need to keep in mind that our patience is finite.

Oh, and please keep Tyll's legacy measurement database online, and maybe update it with the last batch of measurements he did (like the Clear, etc), it is an incredibly useful resource still.

I do NOT envy their position. Good luck bros, ya'll gonna need it...

For what it's worth, I found their articles on what they plan to do with measurements encouraging.

 

[rgs9200m]

I like your interesting points catscratch; I never actually thought of it that way, but i makes a lot of sense to me. If you ever feel like posting what you would like to see in impressions from just regular posters here, I'd be curious. Again, great comprehensive post that was a good read.

I actually had the thought for a while that every set of impressions should include some recording that is constant, timeless, and very familiar to most people, like, say, Abbey Road.

But, you are right, talking about some recording the reader hasn't heard is a lot less relevant than details on the the standard audio aspects. There is too much free-association in reviews these days.
Too much flowery language.

 

[Roscoeiii]

You know, if I was suddenly in charge of IF and didn't exactly know what to do (and maybe wanted to boost readership), I would find a bunch of hot topics designed to attract mainstream attention and start off with a bang.
At least it would be a legitimate start-off approach.
Some suggestions (and maybe others can chime in):

Topic 1: New Battle of the Flagships, like Utopia vs. LCD4/4Z vs. HE1kV2 vs. Susvara vs. Senn HD800S (or 800) vs. Stax 009S vs. Sony Z1R etc.

Topic 2: Tyll's unfinished business: Revisiting the Sony Z1R, Utopia, and LCD4, where there were issues of sample-variation and changes in impressions over time and general controversy in Headfi and other forums about IF reviews.

Topic 3: Beyond the Moon 430 amp. Tyll seem to use just this amp for every dynamic headphone review, and maybe a review should include several amps, both solid state and tubed to find good synergies and give a headphone a fighting chance.

Topic 4: New version series: New vs. old version comparisons of these headphones: LCD4, Stax 009, HD800, HD650. I'm sure many long term owners of the old ones are curious about upgrading (or not).

I'll let others here think of topics they would like to see. I feel some constructive criticism is in order here to assist Rafe.

Very nice suggestions. Some other thoughts along these lines.

1) A nice way for Rafe to get his sea legs and to give us a fresh perpective would be to do an in depth comparison of different driver types: planar, dynamic and electrostat. Preferably using more than one model and manufacturer of each.

2) And I think DSP and EQing headphones would be another great topic. Other than convenience, how do DSP options compare to manual EQ? What aspects of a headphone's sound do and do not change in response to EQ/DSP? Are there some headphone drivers that respond better than others to EQ/DSP? Would be cool to hear comparisons of HD800, HD650, HiFiMan, Mr Speakers, Audeze, etc when they have all been EQed to have the same freq response.

Both of these also have the advantage of helping Rafe better familiarize himself with the headphone world, headphone measurements and headphone freq responses and sound signatures.

 

[rgs9200m]

Thanks Roscoeiii. I'd be interested in those a lot.
Yep, there are several good areas that always generate long threads here, and that's a perfectly safe approach. Tyll was one of a kind, but I don't think most people would criticize the new IF for sticking to the basics.
And guest commentators are good for spicing things up, like the famous Bob Katz comment in the talk with Tyll that if you like the Stax 009, "you must be deaf."
That will always brings attention to the site.

 

[VandyMan]

I feel some constructive criticism is in order here to assist Rafe.

The problem with Rafe and IF, in a nutshell, is that you were forced to post this here instead of on his site. Had you posted it on IF, it would have been deleted and you might have been banned. That is not how you build community.

Lots of good ideas here. Too bad Rafe has zero interest in what you have to say.