Thank you for understanding my point, I have been one of HBB'S earliest yt subscribers. His evolution has been phenomenal and I truly respect his honesty at times, especially his brutally honest opinion on that 1200$ player. But guys, my point wasn't trashing someone's preferences. I don't like ETYs, and a lot of elitists do. My point is that when you gain experience with a lot more gears, I feel that you have a better sense of distinguishing between summit-fi tier, mid-fi tier and low end. That way the subjectivity obviously gets alleviated , even a little bit .
Again, I have massive respect for HBB's knowledge on car audio and his prior experiences with audio. I obviously am not that much of an experienced audiophile, but I am just cautious for my purchases, because I prefer to buy things that would remain in my ears for at least a year. Simply a personal preference guys. Again, didn't really want to start a wild fire around here. Just my 2c, hehe.
Also, HBB's recommendations are absolutely spot on at times, at least with my preferences. Bought the Fiio F9s and was on a honeymoon vacation for a year, just needed to tame that 8k peak down.
Yea you definitely need to take every review with a grain of salt. It helps if you know what YOU like first, and then read through other people's reviews on items you at least know of and see if there's commonalities in preferences. Then from there you can make better decisions. If you don't have a base to start from, then reading MANY reviews will get you a better understanding of a broader set of ears. I started writing reviews recently and I always post my disclaimers and very key to point out what music you listen to and your own preferences so others can understand where you're coming from.
This applies to every review - just like food and drinks. Some people like beer, some don't. Some like coffee, some LOVE it. Others just have poor taste buds.... JUST KIDDING.