Agree with absolutely everything everyone said in this thread so far. To add a few:
- A review with no reference point is absolutely useless (e.g. this headphone is transparent... compared to what?)
- A review using any words beyond those defined in The Audio Glossary or attempting to reinvent the meaning of them, is useless (What does "technicality" mean?).
- A review going song-by-song and taking you through the how the equipment sounds for each song is written by an amateur. Any reasonably trained ears should be able to describe the sound, not the music.
Agree with absolutely everything everyone said in this thread so far. To add a few:
- A review with no reference point is absolutely useless (e.g. this headphone is transparent... compared to what?)
- A review using any words beyond those defined in The Audio Glossary or attempting to reinvent the meaning of them, is useless (What does "technicality" mean?).
- A review going song-by-song and taking you through the how the equipment sounds for each song is written by an amateur. Any reasonably trained ears should be able to describe the sound, not the music.
Your last point is on point. Reviews, if well written, should be concise enough to skim over. What the reviewer is asking, when describing equipment through songs, is asking us to spend 3+min on that song, and likely with more than one headphone/iem that I already own (to get a benchmark of what they are talking about).
Actually, objectively it should be okay - if we are buying an expensive product, then we should spend more time reading reviews. But I just roll my eyes every time when reviews use songs to portray their meaning, for better or worse.
Never understood what 'textured bass' means? Can bass have texture? I thought there's only different level of hardness and size of bass image area? And the bass impact and release characteristics along with subs?
But, I think character of bass is shaped by other frequencies mixed with it, which cases the realistic timbre of real instruments that cause bass sounds.
Agree with absolutely everything everyone said in this thread so far. To add a few:
- A review with no reference point is absolutely useless (e.g. this headphone is transparent... compared to what?)
- A review using any words beyond those defined in The Audio Glossary or attempting to reinvent the meaning of them, is useless (What does "technicality" mean?).
- A review going song-by-song and taking you through the how the equipment sounds for each song is written by an amateur. Any reasonably trained ears should be able to describe the sound, not the music.
Okay, okay... I think I got this now. Check out my review.
With "Don't Wake the Sleeping Bags," the headphones convey the soulfulness of the vocalist at the same time as rendering the guitars tender and decadent, the basslines spongey and tensile, and the treble effervescent yet articulate. Piano strikes parade around like an unmoored ungulate, both ambitious and philosophical. The cymbals announce themselves with aplomb, but not bravado, affecting a sort of snobbish indifference. And drums... drums sound downright carboniferous and infundibilform, almost quotidian in their monolithic propinquity. I think most people would agree, these headphones deliver some of the most iconoclastic, filigreed, yet hopscotched, parenthetical, and nautical sound around.
You may wonder which headphones I was even talking about. But, I think you'll find, it doesn't really matter.
Never understood what 'textured bass' means? Can bass have texture? I thought there's only different level of hardness and size of bass image area? And the bass impact and release characteristics along with subs?
But, I think character of bass is shaped by other frequencies mixed with it, which cases the realistic timbre of real instruments that cause bass sounds.
That’s exactly what it is. The second 1/2 of your answer! Lots of frequencies and harmonics, as well as a play within the soundstage at times. It is that lower area which is not foggy yet has existence and is fully heard for everything that it is. It can be round, or long reverberated or short. It can have extra harmonics or not. But most of all it is separate from other instruments in the area; notably in reference to drum sounds and low synth or guitar.The way a bass has it’s own life and existence inside of the track. That’s texture.
That’s exactly what it is. The second 1/2 of your answer! Lots of frequencies and harmonics, as well as a play within the soundstage at times. It is that lower area which is not foggy yet has existence and is fully heard for everything that it is. It can be round, or long reverberated or short. It can have extra harmonics or not. But most of all it is separate from other instruments in the area; notably in reference to drum sounds and low synth or guitar.The way a bass has it’s own life and existence inside of the track. That’s texture.
That one gets me every time, and somewhere a ‘lightbulb OFF’ moment happens in the back of my mind.. (I have to mentally shake my brain to get out of the comfy chair and stop eating popcorn; and engage with the review....)
It is true that humans see the world in a dualistic fashion; our brain is trained to see the opposite (we see/experience due to the polarized view..) we wouldn’t know heat if we didn’t know cold, we wouldn’t know light if we didn’t know dark etc..
regarding advertising and desensitising ourselves to this all, then true, some worlds have negative connotations or prove ‘deal breakers’ (the word ‘deal’ itself having negative connotations), and we can get fatigued or ‘switch off’ based on key repeating phrases, or ‘red flags’.
When reviewers state that they are doing things or using kit that they do not believe in, but just for giggles.. then I do wonder how much of a ‘backbone the review will have’. (Generally flowery words and unqualified thoughts.)
An example is “I burned it in for twenty hours ‘just in case’ “, VS “I left it a week in the den on repeat to get the unit thoroughly broken in”.
Whether ’break in’ is a thing or not; one of those reviewers covered it, the other acknowledged it and dismissed it simulaneously.
Take a stance. Sitting on fences makes (for) you a pain in the ass...
I literally typed like 5-6 paragraphs worth, it's 18 different points, I am not afraid to post it, I am just not going to... lol, some of it where really red flags maybe about 1/2 to 1/3 where gripes with known reviewers since I have seen more (at least on youtube where I prefer to consume content)
At the point you have as much to say as I do either find a few key points that appeal to others to stick to, or start your own channel -____-
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