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Originally Posted by RedSky0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
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Frankly, I think it's the onus of whoever's taking on opinions/requesting help to critically evaluate someone's view and to seek or search for alternate points of view. If somebody says X is a good choice and don't provide any justification, then that opinion may be worth exploring but by itself should not be perceieved as credulous anyway. Hell it's not just shills you should be concerned about, it's the people who perpetuate hearsay and don't acknowledge it for what it is and the ones who get sucked into FOTMishness.
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Agree.
Personally, I think a bit much is made of the whole shill thing. Whether there are people here who receive some benefits for creating a buzz around a particular product, I don't know.
It is difficult for many reasons to get what might be called an independant review of any product - and particularly difficult in the world of music reproduction. We all have different tastes in music, associated equipment etc. Music or equipment that I love [geniunely] may well be a disappointment (or worse) to the next guy.
Do you think opinions published in audio magazines are independant of their income stream? Do they declare financial interests in any of their opinions or recommendations?
I think all recommendations - from anywhere- need to be taken with a grain of salt. I find recommendations here and then do more research. More research on the equipment or music, and more research on the person recommending the gear. What are their tastes? What else have they recommended? etc.
There is certainly a lot of fanboyism here. There is no doubt in my mind about that. But whether they are shills remains a open question for me, but not one I spend much time thinking about.
Even with the best research in the world you will still buy gear that isn't quite what you were after. That's part of the audio journey. Only you can tell if you like it. I think that is the real message here. People can offer opinions, but only a fool would blindy take the recommendation of someone else without having a previous long standing relationship - even then it doesn't always work out.
Remember, this is not the only source for headphone related information on the internet.