headphone buyers database - opinions/help wanted
Sep 17, 2004 at 2:59 AM Post #47 of 131
Quote:

Originally Posted by akellor
Has anyone mentioned mods yet? You could allow people to submit their mods, maybe even allow others to rate or post feedback for a mod.


I'd rather stick with stock cans, but mods could be done later. I just want to get this thing finished and working right now! Thanks for the suggestion though, any suggestions are welcome.
 
Sep 21, 2004 at 7:28 AM Post #48 of 131
Here's a quick update for anyone interested:
- Database structure is finalised.
- User management is done.
- Entry of manufacturer and headphone data is done.
- Entry of reviews is done.
- Simple search is partly done.

Left to do:
- A wizard interface to help newbies choose headphones.
- A pretty layout (not so important for testing).

If anyone's interested in beta testing drop me a PM with the subject "beta tester" and i'll get back to you next week when it's ready for people to have a go.
 
Sep 21, 2004 at 4:48 PM Post #49 of 131
Quote:

Originally Posted by commando
NB: this is prototype level code, and damn if it doesn't look complex! Looking at it thru the daze of tiredness I can barely work out how I got this damn thing to work!
NB2: with all the arrays and the odd way PHP does them, this is getting harder than I thought. I think I probably will go for the DB join option unless someone can come up with a better idea
smily_headphones1.gif



sorry commando, I totally missed this. I'm guessing you went with the join or are you still trying to get the arrays flying?
 
Sep 21, 2004 at 4:51 PM Post #50 of 131
Quote:

Originally Posted by commando
Can anyone make any suggestions on the way people would rate the headphones? See the list in the first post, but the main things there are the moment are
- bass extension/impact (useful)
- mids/highs (1-10 which probably isn't that useful)
- smooth/analytical/detail (1-10 - useful enough)
- portable, how useful is amp, isolation, comfort - all pretty handy
- soundstage (dunno if this is useful, a lot of people have no idea what it is)

Can anyone think of better parameters to rate headphones, that'd help people choose them more easily?

The other thing on my mind is if you're rating something 1-10, you really need a frame of reference. If people have only used cheap earbuds before then the MDR-V600 will sound fantastic and they'll rate it might more highly than people who've heard good headphones. The only way I can think to avoid this is the moderator approval system, and perhaps a few fields are stored to get a little more information about the reviewer. Again, suggestions about this would be welcome.


so there I was, pumping gas yesterday and musing on about head-fi and was wondering about the subjectiveness of all our headphone ratings... Reviews definately need to include what the reviewer's main can is presently, so we have a baseline as to what his review is subconsciously being baselined off of.
 
Sep 21, 2004 at 9:46 PM Post #52 of 131
I think you should consider auidence; most people who would use this are purchasing one of their first few sets of headphones. Probably most under $200, too.

Not to say that no one in the higher or more experinced end would use it or, for any reason, those entries should not exist.


The point I am trying to make is in regards to your criteria for accepting reviews. Quite simply, when I was purchasing a sub-100 dollar headphone, I did valued opinions from users who had elaborate set ups less that, say, someone who had used bad stock phones their whole life and had been impresssed/not-so-impressed with their purchase.


The major problem I think exists can almost be related back to this first point, that fewer people are going to have experince at a given price point than have experince across the board. People "upgrade"; I'd be surprised if I ever owned a pair of SR-60's or PX100's, because I own KSC-35's. But someone who is looking to buy sub-75 headphones is more interested in a review that compares those than how any given phone compares to high-end stuff.

Hope these points make sense.
 
Sep 21, 2004 at 10:06 PM Post #53 of 131
I see your point, and it's a good one. What i'm trying to achieve is preventing people buying crappy cans like the V700 and giving them 10/10 because they're so much better than the stock buds that came with their CDP. If you look on epinions the MDR-V700s get 4/5, when everyone here knows that they sound pretty ****** (I have some) and tend to break after a year or two.

What i'd ideally like is for people who have tried lower end cans and progressed on to better things to evaluate them. It means that cheaper cans are going to get low scores, but i'll point out on the page that you should look at the relative scores, not the absolute ones.

The only other option as far as I can see it is for a mod to check each review, which isn't really practical.

If anyone can think of a better way to achieve this aim i'm all ears - I want to make this a good, useful system.

As for people not bothering with looking for reviews for higher end cans, I personally think i'd use it to look for more expensive cans. It might have stopped my buying rather expensive CD3Ks when they're not really suitable for my needs. The information on higher end cans would all be on head-fi, but you might get someone saying the same thing 10 times on different threads. This way it's easy to find all the opinions in one place, and one opinion per person, so the loudest/most prolific person doesn't drown out the rest. I know what you mean though, when you get to higher end cans you're not going to buy them based on just what's in this DB. The idea is to give people starting points, then they can discuss them here on head-fi.

All opinons and suggestions are most welcome - thanks flamingantichimp.
 
Oct 3, 2004 at 2:38 AM Post #54 of 131
Ok, the site's almost ready to go live, albeit in test mode to start with. Now I need a name for the site: "headphone reviews" isn't a good name, too long and not catchy at all. Can anyone come up with something better?

My ideas so far (none of them great):
- Headphone Addicts - or HeadAddicts
- Headphone Review System (HRS)
- User headphone reviews

If anyone has any ideas, good or bad, throw them out here - brainstorming like. Bad ideas can lead to good ideas
smily_headphones1.gif


I'm also looking for a few beta testers to have a bit of a play with the site, make sure it works ok, and is actually helpful. Drop me a PM if you're interested.
 
Oct 3, 2004 at 3:39 AM Post #55 of 131
May I suggest -

Headphone Eruditio

Eruditio is a latin word meaning knowledge, teaching AND learning. I think it might fit the untimate aim of the database well.
 
Oct 9, 2004 at 11:49 AM Post #57 of 131
I have an idea for the rating system... I think that a 20-30 question flash headphone quiz, made up by several experienced members, would give nice results. One would have to get 7/10 or something like that in order to review. I'm not quite sure what questions to include, though...
 
Oct 9, 2004 at 11:55 AM Post #58 of 131
Quote:

Originally Posted by Shatter
I have an idea for the rating system... I think that a 20-30 question flash headphone quiz, made up by several experienced members, would give nice results. One would have to get 7/10 or something like that in order to review. I'm not quite sure what questions to include, though...


Thanks for the suggestion, but that's too much of a barrier to submitting reviews. I don't want to make it hard to submit reviews, otherwise even the people I want to do the reviews won't bother. I'd rather let people do reviews and them exclude them later than have people not bother because it was too hard.

I'm currently doing nice things like image libraries, finishing off the administration system, and doing a bit of general tidying up. The release date keeps slipping back, but better to come out with a good site to start with rather than try to work things in later.
 
Oct 9, 2004 at 1:45 PM Post #59 of 131
Name suggestions:
-Headphones Guidelines
-Headphones Vademecum ("go with me" = guidelines)
-Headphones Compendium (essential guide)
-AllTheHeadphones
-Headphones Buyers Guide
-BuyTheRightHeadphones
-WhatHeadphones
-HeadphonesKnowItAll
-NoBrainerHeadphones
-Headphones Smart Guide
-Choose Your Heaphones
-HeadphonesBloodhound
-HeadphonesSeeker
-Search Your Headphones
 
Oct 9, 2004 at 2:08 PM Post #60 of 131
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