audioreview.com... do these guys know ANYTHING?

[LingLing1337]

I rarely ever see a review under 4 stars... EVERY component on that site get rave reviews from people who have seemingly no reference point. Sometimes when I'm looking up a more obscure component, audioreview.com is the only site with info on it, and all I see is "DEEP bass, sweet mids, amazing highs, great value for $$$!" What do you guys think of this site?

 

[Chef]

In general I think you have to take any reviewer that uses phrases like "DEEP bass, sweet mids, amazing highs" with a grain of salt. They're terms that really do not mean anything. When I search for reviews I look for user comments about durability, comfort, and compatibility. There's no professional review site that isn't really guilty of this. They get paid off by the big brands so that people who don't know anything about audio can read 'great bass response!' and think to themselves ":O I like bass, sounds right to me" even though they're probably not better in that regard than any other headphone.

But then I'm a bit of a non-believer in most claims to sound quality in luxury audio equipment.

 

[Beagle]

No real point of reference there. I'd stick with Head-Fi and members whose tastes seem to match yours.

 

[pp312]

Actually Amazon is often a better reference, and there I always go first to the one and two star reviews. Sometimes this is crap, like "This is a brilliant headphone but the box was damaged", but sometimes it's someone who knows what he's talking about. But even the rave reviews are useful if there are enough of them. I mean, 57 5 star reviews has to at least mean that the phone has some quality.

 

[TheMarchingMule]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pp312 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I mean, 57 5 star reviews has to at least mean that the phone has some quality.

Better take a look at the reviews on Skullcandy's website then.

 

[atothex]

I don't see too many negative reviews here, either.

 

[jjinh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by atothex /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't see too many negative reviews here, either.

really.. have you seen the threads deriding beats by dr dre, or skullcandy? beyond that music is a personal/subjective thing, so for each headphone there'll be those who like it, and those who abhor it

 

[LingLing1337]

Quote:

Originally Posted by atothex /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't see too many negative reviews here, either.

Yep... I've never seen a cable/tweak review that doesn't promise a startling gain in performance... usually prefaced with something like "I'm a real audio skeptic, but..."

 

[atothex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjinh /img/forum/go_quote.gif really.. have you seen the threads deriding beats by dr dre, or skullcandy?

Does that count? I'm talking actual reviews. If you look at the regular reviewers, negative reviews are hard to find.

 

[Ra97oR]

Ever seen K701 reviews? Especially one without an amp.

 

[Ajani]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LingLing1337 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I rarely ever see a review under 4 stars... EVERY component on that site get rave reviews from people who have seemingly no reference point. Sometimes when I'm looking up a more obscure component, audioreview.com is the only site with info on it, and all I see is "DEEP bass, sweet mids, amazing highs, great value for $$$!" What do you guys think of this site?

Audioreview is a consumer review site just like any other (whether from Amazon, etc...)

So don't expect all (or even most) of the persons writing reviews there to be experts....

I find consumer reviews to be best for learning about build quality/reliability of a product... not for getting real insight into sound quality...

If you want to see nasty reviews on AR, then check out the wars in the Bose sections....

 

[estreeter]

You wont enjoy 6Moons then ...

A lot of the 'gifted amateur' sites on the net are populated by jackasses who dont know a great deal about anything, but are enthusiastic nonetheless. Kinda like Head-Fi.

 

[dclancy]

“Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.”

Benjamin Franklin


When it comes to audio, bring a salt lick.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

I agree that audioreview.com is a consumer review site. So expect a lot of overly enthusiastic reviews from people who have never owned anything better than the stock iPod earbuds for headphones.

And yes, I used to submit reviews to audioreview.com, when they did not require registration to post reviews - until one day they wanted to force me to register, which would have resulted in them selling my info to a mailing list which is then sold to various companies. I simply refused to register, and I have not posted a single review to that site ever since.

And now, as a subsidiary of another company who gets a lot of advertising revenue from the big companies (some of which make nothing but underperformance, overpriced products), it is no surprise that they have been screening/filtering out most of the negative (pessimistic) reviews, especially of products of brands who advertise on one of their subsidiary companies.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

Originally Posted by atothex /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does that count? I'm talking actual reviews. If you look at the regular reviewers, negative reviews are hard to find.

skylab will say if he thinks something in the same price range he thinks has better value, which i approve of for sure.