[Blanchot]

We had a guy in here not long ago explaining how the shilling on Head-fi works. You post a lot about a particular product category and posit yourself as an authority or reviewer. The manufacturers see your posts and PM you asking to send you a copy of their product to review. You agree to give it a good review or no review at all. You aren't allowed to give a bad review. If you like it, you review it in glowing terms and they let you keep the product and send you more products to review. If you don't like it, you quietly return it to them and never mention anything bad about that product, because if you do, you'll never get any more review copies again. Naturally, the "reviewer" isn't too likely to choose the latter. Good reviews encourage more free stuff. The guy that was telling us about this said it was common knowledge at Head-fi that this was how it worked. He saw nothing wrong with it and had amassed a collection of fifty expensive IEMs that way.

If it's Red you are referring to he only reviews cheap chi-fi IEMs. It's the sheer amount of stuff he receives that makes his collection expensive. If you read one of his reviews (they require alot of patience) you will understand why they don't trust him with the valuable stuff. He's no twister6.

 

[bigshot]

This is probably one of the most important threads on this forum.

Welcome!

Blanchot, I don't remember names. I'm bad at that. I only know people by their pictures! My jaw was on the floor when he was explaining it and acting like it was perfectly fine to only say nice things in return for "presents". With all that stuff he was given, I'm guessing he didn't run across things he couldn't praise often. (If ever!)

 

[573531]

What are the advantages to being a head-fi sponsor and how much should one expect to pay?

 

[bigshot]

No idea. Try contacting Head-Fi's advertising rep.

 

[gregorio]

Does that include Sony with their S-Master HX?

Sony is a bit different to the average audiophile manufacturer. For starters they’re a multi-billion dollar multi-national with huge resources and secondly, in some cases Sony actually invented the wheel, rather than just trying to re-invent what’s already been invented (and is standard and better), CD, DAT, DASH and others for example. This doesn’t mean Sony are never guilty of false/misleading marketing though, they’re masters of it!

I don’t know much about the S-Master HX, isn’t it just a digital amp? So I don’t know if/how much snake oil this particular product is?

It doesn't get hot like off the shelf dacs and isn't very powerful but arguably does what it's designed for.

Mmmm, I don’t recall any off the shelf DAC I’ve used getting hot. Some amps get warm, some poorly designed ones get hot but digital based amps are typically more efficient. It’s rare that Sony products don’t do what they’re designed for.

G

 

[Ryokan]

they’re masters of it!

'Masters of the hidden hand' there's a term that often pops up regarding 20th century history in a certain region.

It’s rare that Sony products don’t do what they’re designed for.

Sony often make things to a bare minimum, small motherboards in their computers for example.

 

[gregorio]

Some 'professional' reviewers when asked about specific comparisons tend to default to everything sounds different to each of us and people need to listen for themselves …

Not quite, some “professional” reviewers and nearly all audiophile manufacturers/marketers first tell you what the product does and what it sounds like (EG. Detailed and musical or some far lengthier prose) and then they say “people need to listen to it themselves”. This is a very old marketing tactic, that’s still very widely used because it still works! If you tell people what the product will feel or sound like, then a fair percentage will indeed feel or hear that, that’s the power of suggestion.

Read as many reviews as you can and people's comments who have bought a product or listened with it.

Manufacturers/Marketers know this too and also that the power of suggestion is increased if it (or similar suggestion) is presented by more than one *apparently* independent source. Manufacturers will typically provide “presents” to more than one reviewer, they’ll also do their own advertising and often pay a company or individual shill to pose as an ordinary user and post something good about it. And what do you know, before too long you’ve got a bunch of actual users who are hearing inaudible differences (as suggested to them), posting that even their wife can hear it and you must be deaf if you can’t!

An “Argumentum ad Populam” is unreliable at the best of times and worse still when the “Populam” has been manipulated with modern marketing!

G

 

[gregorio]

My jaw was on the floor when he was explaining it and acting like it was perfectly fine to only say nice things in return for "presents".

Really? It wouldn’t make my jaw drop because it’s completely normal/usual, it’s pretty much how the whole world works. Those in government/politics say and/or do nice things for companies/industries in return for “presents” (campaign funding for example), some celebrities and sports people actually make more money from “presents” (endorsements) than from their actual profession, even some sound/music engineers and producers make a nice bit on the side from “presents” (endorsements).

I’m not at all saying it’s “perfectly fine”, (quite the opposite in fact) but it is very common/usual and hardly jaw dropping.

G

 

[Davesrose]

Sony often make things to a bare minimum, small motherboards in their computers for example.

Computers are a different market segment. Sony had a separate brand of "Sony Computers" before they sold the Vaio line. The large mail order brands are getting their own OEM parts. They usually are cutting corners, compared to the retail component, to reduce price. And then if the company is getting low sales, or gets sold off, then the whole laptop might be rebranded from a low cost plant. With desktop workstations/gaming setups, there are smaller companies that actually are assembling computers from retail components.

 

[Benesyed]

Sony is a bit different to the average audiophile manufacturer. For starters they’re a multi-billion dollar multi-national with huge resources and secondly, in some cases Sony actually invented the wheel, rather than just trying to re-invent what’s already been invented (and is standard and better), CD, DAT, DASH and others for example. This doesn’t mean Sony are never guilty of false/misleading marketing though, they’re masters of it!

I don’t know much about the S-Master HX, isn’t it just a digital amp? So I don’t know if/how much snake oil this particular product is?

Mmmm, I don’t recall any off the shelf DAC I’ve used getting hot. Some amps get warm, some poorly designed ones get hot but digital based amps are typically more efficient. It’s rare that Sony products don’t do what they’re designed for.

G

I've tried 3 brands of DAPs

ak25
Hiby R6
Sony WMA1-am2 and now the a306

The latter never get hot with long use but both of the others do. The architecture from what I can take away is much simpler for the Sony system and it can't power demanding sets (but enough to drive my MDR-Z1R, ier-z1r and monarch mk2) but those is why it's very cool running. They might be slower than more powerful systems esp if you use streaming services in offline mode, but the battery life and stability are great.

Sound quality sounds excellent to me but I don't have the full range of exposure to very very high end stuff.

 

[bigshot]

Really? It wouldn’t make my jaw drop because it’s completely normal/usual, it’s pretty much how the whole world works.

No one pays me to say nice things about their products. They tried to get me to enter into one of those sorts of arrangements here, but they didn't say what they really wanted from me and I didn't understand how it worked. I expressed my honest opinion and they ghosted me! No swag for Bigshot!

The thing that amazed me about it wasn't that he was a shill. It was that he was standing in the middle of the forum admitting he was a shill and expecting everyone to be fine with that. He wanted us to be impressed with his knowledge... as if he was some sort of expert because he had a lot of IEMs that he had been given to say nice things about. What's the point of being an expert if you let other people govern what you can and can't say?

 

[castleofargh]

Just replace reviewers by influencers, and all becomes clear.

Joke aside, doing good serious reviews takes a lot of time and effort, while there is nearly no incentive to put in any amount of time or effort. Spamming with the latest toys before everyone else and making a big deal out of them is almost always going to create more traffic, get you more followers, lead to more money, and get you better relations with the industry.
The guy spending a month and a half testing each device, will post his review when the hype has already started to fade away. It's not a good business model.

 

[Bytor123]

Capitalism, eh? 'Empty calories'.

 

[bigshot]

For a few decades now, I've created entertainment content for a living. But that doesn't mean that I turn my life into a crowd funded advertisement. I do some things for money, and when I do that, it's obvious that I am doing a job that I expect to get paid for. Other things I do just for the fun of it. When it comes to talking about our hobbies, I expect people to be passionate about the hobby and genuinely want to share, not to try to secretly sell me something. I've been turned off by YouTubers who do that and I've unsubbed from their channels because of it. There are too many people sharing for the right reason to waste my time listening to sales pitches all day long. But I understand that people raised on informercials on cable TV might have a higher tolerance for that than I do.

I think becoming a profitable "influencer" is a pipe dream. Yes, there are people who make lots of money that way. But the vast majority of people who monetize content on YouTube or social media or forums make pennies for the "work" they do. It reeks of the losers who waste all their time expecting to become movie or rock stars without talent nor charisma, or ghetto kids being told that becoming a famous basketball star is the only way for kids to get out of the ghetto. You might as well stuff envelopes or sell Amway. Becoming a professional is hard work and becoming a successful influencer is even harder. I don't understand why people invest so much in something with such a small return on average. A lot of it reeks of desperation.

 

[71 dB]

For a few decades now, I've created entertainment content for a living.

I wonder if I have ever consumed any of the entertainment content you have created...