ScrofulousBinturong
100+ Head-Fier
Please remember a few principles 
* lnclude the price, or price range. It's not obvious whether you're reviewing $25 or $250 IEMs.
* Disclose conflicts of interest (e.g. you got a review item for free) but don't make it a flipping novel about how getting a freebie won't color your 100% honest feedback and review in any way. We all know it's not true.
Just say "This item was given to me for free by Acme, Inc and I do/don't have to return it. The review reflects my actual impressions" or similar.
* Include comparisons to other, comparable items if possible, ideally in the same or adjacent category.
* Nobody cares about cutesy artsy pictures of IEMs hanging off a tree or on a sidewalk with your macro lens. A picture of the IEMs in someone's ears, and pictures with something well known for scale like a Bic pen or a ruler, are much more useful.
* Don't use a lot of florid language, especially if you haven't mastered those words well.
* Don't write a bazillion paragraphs about every frequency. It's tedious.
* Do specify the frequencies you're talking about. "Upper bass bleeding into the lower mids" is pretty meaningless to most readers. Don't write just for the "experts." This isn't science or academia.
* Be specific. Don't just say an IEM is "hard to drive" or "blossoms when given adequate power." What changes when you use a more powerful source?
* Do include what tracks you listened to. Links to YouTube or Spotify are extra nice. Most people won't know what those songs sound like. Don't embed videos--just links. Embeds are slow and make the review harder to read.
* Proofread and spellcheck.
* Edit yourself. Make your first edit 25% shorter than your first draft. Then make the final pass 20% shorter than that.
* "The best/worst x I've ever heard" isn't useful, because nobody knows what else you've heard and liked or disliked.
* Stay humble in your pronouncements. The odds are pretty good you only have experience with a tiny sliver of the market. Calling any one item the best/most amazing/giant killer/other hyperbole may be correct, but there may be a few better ones you just haven't heard. And you will probably change your mind with experience and as your preferences and hearing change over time.
Thank you for writing the reviews in the first place. They're very helpful. And they are even more helpful if they're not a chore to read. A crisp review that gets to the point and doesn't drown the reader in excess verbiage sounds much more polished, impressive, and professional than trying to use every audio word you know.
Keep writing!
* lnclude the price, or price range. It's not obvious whether you're reviewing $25 or $250 IEMs.
* Disclose conflicts of interest (e.g. you got a review item for free) but don't make it a flipping novel about how getting a freebie won't color your 100% honest feedback and review in any way. We all know it's not true.
Just say "This item was given to me for free by Acme, Inc and I do/don't have to return it. The review reflects my actual impressions" or similar.* Include comparisons to other, comparable items if possible, ideally in the same or adjacent category.
* Nobody cares about cutesy artsy pictures of IEMs hanging off a tree or on a sidewalk with your macro lens. A picture of the IEMs in someone's ears, and pictures with something well known for scale like a Bic pen or a ruler, are much more useful.
* Don't use a lot of florid language, especially if you haven't mastered those words well.
* Don't write a bazillion paragraphs about every frequency. It's tedious.
* Do specify the frequencies you're talking about. "Upper bass bleeding into the lower mids" is pretty meaningless to most readers. Don't write just for the "experts." This isn't science or academia.
* Be specific. Don't just say an IEM is "hard to drive" or "blossoms when given adequate power." What changes when you use a more powerful source?
* Do include what tracks you listened to. Links to YouTube or Spotify are extra nice. Most people won't know what those songs sound like. Don't embed videos--just links. Embeds are slow and make the review harder to read.
* Proofread and spellcheck.
* Edit yourself. Make your first edit 25% shorter than your first draft. Then make the final pass 20% shorter than that.
* "The best/worst x I've ever heard" isn't useful, because nobody knows what else you've heard and liked or disliked.
* Stay humble in your pronouncements. The odds are pretty good you only have experience with a tiny sliver of the market. Calling any one item the best/most amazing/giant killer/other hyperbole may be correct, but there may be a few better ones you just haven't heard. And you will probably change your mind with experience and as your preferences and hearing change over time.
Thank you for writing the reviews in the first place. They're very helpful. And they are even more helpful if they're not a chore to read.
A crisp review that gets to the point and doesn't drown the reader in excess verbiage sounds much more polished, impressive, and professional than trying to use every audio word you know.Keep writing!
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