I understand your position. I was the same. New Zealand is a country with limited listening opportunities. At the time I lurked on these forums six and seven years ago, Skylab's careful, considered reviews were very helpful to me. Project86 is also careful and considered, and "fantastic" is probably not a word one would find there. Not without YMMV warnings anyway!
So, we broadly agree.
What I have gained in the years since following Skylab and many other headfiers' reviews is
some understanding of my own listening preferences, and
some ability to translate carefully managed and detailed description into what I would
sometimes (as much as half the time but no more) hear from the same or a similar set-up.
On the flip-side, I doubt the usefulness of my own descriptions to others -
knowing our listening becomes increasingly specialized the further we go in this hobby - but occasionally I try anyway.
Definitely not useful are good/bad impressions without any supporting detail about what the listener heard/hears. It's how the "hype train" operates on head-fi
As a counter-example, Loevhagen's brief description of the Rega versus V800 above is very useful to me, because of experience with Loevhagen's preferences and descriptive style. That's a second way information on head-fi can be useful.
Quote:
Erm, yes, of course. But most of us here make our purchasing choices based not on our ears (as we don't have the opportunity to try stuff before we buy), but on recommendations we read on the forums. By 'know their stuff' I mean people who have experience with many different types of equipment and who's recommendations therefore have a bit more weight. I think most of us will, for example, value the opinion of someone like Tyll or Jude more highly than a n00b like me.
