sneaglebob
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Should we? Since I've been seeing the reviews posted by cnet and it seems to be a bit unprofessional or something like that, as in the people reviewing them are not audiophiles.
Should we trust CNET headphone reviews?
- Thread starter sneaglebob
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Rezound Sound
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I used to trust them. Before I discovered this website. Now I don't.
spierce
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No. Trust Head-Fi!
cantsleep
Headphoneus Supremus
yes, but usually the reviews from this forum are much better.
MalVeauX
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Quote:
In general, I don't trust big corps who are paid to do those reviews, regardless of product. I like to find someone who just has some casual experience with the [insert product].
Very best,
catscratch
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There are a few red flags to look out for in a review or reviewers in general:
- reviews in the "I listened to track X and this is what I heard" format, or reviews that don't talk about the sound directly. These reviews are largely useless to anyone that hasn't heard track X.
- reviews that aren't based on measurements and don't include any technical specifications at all.
- reviewers that only ever give good reviews and don't criticize components.
- reviews that don't compare products directly to competing products in the same price range, and instead compare them to only cheaper or more expensive alternatives.
I don't want to name names, but there definitely are reviewers at CNET, as well as just about any major publication, that fall into that category. In fact most professional reviews do. On HF things are a little bit better, but here you have to be very mindful of the kind of prior experience that reviewers have. Very often someone here will get their first good headphone, be amazed at what they hear and then go on to write glowing reviews without any real background to make qualified judgments. I can't fault their enthusiasm but this sort of thing is misleading as well.
For headphones, I would check out Tyll's work at InnerFidelity. While I don't always agree with Tyll on listening preferences I think it's the first publication I've seen, or at least the first in a very long while, that tries to be genuinely objective about headphones and backs everything up with measurements. I would go with that over everything else - and go with your own impressions too.
- reviews in the "I listened to track X and this is what I heard" format, or reviews that don't talk about the sound directly. These reviews are largely useless to anyone that hasn't heard track X.
- reviews that aren't based on measurements and don't include any technical specifications at all.
- reviewers that only ever give good reviews and don't criticize components.
- reviews that don't compare products directly to competing products in the same price range, and instead compare them to only cheaper or more expensive alternatives.
I don't want to name names, but there definitely are reviewers at CNET, as well as just about any major publication, that fall into that category. In fact most professional reviews do. On HF things are a little bit better, but here you have to be very mindful of the kind of prior experience that reviewers have. Very often someone here will get their first good headphone, be amazed at what they hear and then go on to write glowing reviews without any real background to make qualified judgments. I can't fault their enthusiasm but this sort of thing is misleading as well.
For headphones, I would check out Tyll's work at InnerFidelity. While I don't always agree with Tyll on listening preferences I think it's the first publication I've seen, or at least the first in a very long while, that tries to be genuinely objective about headphones and backs everything up with measurements. I would go with that over everything else - and go with your own impressions too.
worldtipper
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No for headphones. Other electronics they're not bad, I mainly use them for their overview on products.
estreeter
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I don't implicitly trust any single review, and I absolutely don't trust an opinion simply because I read it on Head-Fi : they are *all* subjective opinions. What I do look for is a consensus on the characteristics of a given piece of kit - a good example would be the various reviews of the HiFiMan HE5LE. When I can get a consensus, then I can decide for myself, regardless of how enthusiastic (or otherwise) individual reviewers may be about a given component.
That said, I do have a higher opinion of certain reviewers at Stereophile, The Absolute Sound and Hi-Fi Choice than I do for most of the stuff written by What Hi-Fi. Plenty here will bag the aforementioned mags and people like Wes Phillips, but Wes championed headphones long before the 'renaissance' of the last 3 or so years, and he has heard more kit than I ever will. As others have pointed out, many of the magazines have commercial relationships with people who depend on good reviews to promote their product, so its important to find reviews where they list 'cons' alongside the 'pros'. I always take the time to read John Atkinson's summary re measurements on kit reviewed by Stereophile, but only to ensure that it gels with the subjective impressions of the reviewer. Even then, its only a single data point on a 'grid' that I try to create, and that's unlikely to happen within the first month of a product's release.
There is a rant out there somewhere from an unhappy camper who left Head-Fi partly because he became disenchanted with the standard of many reviews (no, its not Voldemort ...). Some of his criticisms reeked of elitism, but I think its a good summary of the view many outside of Head-Fi have of the forums:
- reviews that read more like a sales pitch than anything resembling objectivity (I agree)
- reviews from folk who dont own any high-end gear and therefore have no basis for comparison (he didn't comprehend that 'high-end' starts at 50K in some circles, not 3k.....)
- review music that belongs on Top 40 radio, not in a serious analysis of kit (yep, he was a classical snob)
I dont know anyone who is totally immune to purchase justification, new toy joy and some initial placebo, but there is a difference between a 'review' and brief listening impressions - perhaps we could have kept our friend happy with more the latter and less of the former. I'll take either over the situation many of us are often faced with - googling for reviews on new kit and finding nothing beyond rehashed marketing crap on a vendor's site. Some of the customer reviews on Amazon can actually give you a better picture of the ownership experience than the usual 'OMG - this is the best eva !' impressions that tend to find their way onto Head-Fi within days of a product going on sale. HiFiMan, Digizoid and others know how quickly the tide can turn here when an FOTM has issues that dont show up until a large batch has shipped.
That said, I do have a higher opinion of certain reviewers at Stereophile, The Absolute Sound and Hi-Fi Choice than I do for most of the stuff written by What Hi-Fi. Plenty here will bag the aforementioned mags and people like Wes Phillips, but Wes championed headphones long before the 'renaissance' of the last 3 or so years, and he has heard more kit than I ever will. As others have pointed out, many of the magazines have commercial relationships with people who depend on good reviews to promote their product, so its important to find reviews where they list 'cons' alongside the 'pros'. I always take the time to read John Atkinson's summary re measurements on kit reviewed by Stereophile, but only to ensure that it gels with the subjective impressions of the reviewer. Even then, its only a single data point on a 'grid' that I try to create, and that's unlikely to happen within the first month of a product's release.
There is a rant out there somewhere from an unhappy camper who left Head-Fi partly because he became disenchanted with the standard of many reviews (no, its not Voldemort ...). Some of his criticisms reeked of elitism, but I think its a good summary of the view many outside of Head-Fi have of the forums:
- reviews that read more like a sales pitch than anything resembling objectivity (I agree)
- reviews from folk who dont own any high-end gear and therefore have no basis for comparison (he didn't comprehend that 'high-end' starts at 50K in some circles, not 3k.....)
- review music that belongs on Top 40 radio, not in a serious analysis of kit (yep, he was a classical snob)
I dont know anyone who is totally immune to purchase justification, new toy joy and some initial placebo, but there is a difference between a 'review' and brief listening impressions - perhaps we could have kept our friend happy with more the latter and less of the former. I'll take either over the situation many of us are often faced with - googling for reviews on new kit and finding nothing beyond rehashed marketing crap on a vendor's site. Some of the customer reviews on Amazon can actually give you a better picture of the ownership experience than the usual 'OMG - this is the best eva !' impressions that tend to find their way onto Head-Fi within days of a product going on sale. HiFiMan, Digizoid and others know how quickly the tide can turn here when an FOTM has issues that dont show up until a large batch has shipped.
extrabigmehdi
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Cnet once bashed a cheap IPS screen. I still bought it because I know that IPS is technically better than TN.
In fact it's an excellent value for the money. I can't care less of what cnet reviews say.
What upset me, is when a lot of review website (usually blogs) are doing a copy/paste job of cnet review, just rephrasing some of the ideas.
So if cnet say that my screen have insufficient luminosity, you'd have thousand of website saying the same thing with different words.
It's completely BS.
In fact it's an excellent value for the money. I can't care less of what cnet reviews say.
What upset me, is when a lot of review website (usually blogs) are doing a copy/paste job of cnet review, just rephrasing some of the ideas.
So if cnet say that my screen have insufficient luminosity, you'd have thousand of website saying the same thing with different words.
It's completely BS.
our martin
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http://news.cnet.com/audiophiliac/ steve guttenberg..
proton007
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Not only the audio reviews, most of their reviews suck. They seem to have a very fanboyish attitude towards things. This is not what you want from reviewers.
genclaymore
Headphoneus Supremus
I don't trust them for headphones or audio based reviews, But I do trust them for every thing else. But I also look at other reviews and see what they say about the products. As I never use one review to make a choice. As for Fanboyish there's lots of reviewers who could come off as being one, even tho there not. Same can be said about some of the users reviews from this forum. I never read one review and buy based off that any how. If i gonna spend money I gonna also look at other reviews as well research on it to make sure it something I want.
extrabigmehdi
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I don't trust them for anything. Deceiving review for an LCD screen there were bashing once. It was later reviewed by a more "expert" website, as one of the best screen available in the market at budget price.
Also , do you know that they are asking sometimes you pay them to review a product ?
I know this because once I've uploaded a software in their repository, and they emailed me they could review my software for a fee.
So absolutely no trust for this website.
Also , do you know that they are asking sometimes you pay them to review a product ?
I know this because once I've uploaded a software in their repository, and they emailed me they could review my software for a fee.
So absolutely no trust for this website.
wilky61
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Yeah, if I'm looking to buy a TV, then I think I would search out a review site/community that specifically deals with TVs.
If I'm looking to buy headphones, then I think I would search out a review site/community that specifically deals with headphones. (hmmmmmmm.....)
etc.
I just don't trust the mega-sites that seem to know a little about a lot.
Quote:
If I'm looking to buy headphones, then I think I would search out a review site/community that specifically deals with headphones. (hmmmmmmm.....)
etc.
I just don't trust the mega-sites that seem to know a little about a lot.
Quote:
our martin
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I go on amazon headfi what hifi techradar and get as much info on them as i can before i go ahead and buy because some headphones are bass shy..I were going to buy the beyerdynamic t5p until i looked around and read that you are better off getting the t1s with the a1 headphone amp which costs a lot more but sometimes it's got to be done to get the best from a pair of headphones..
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