[Beyakusenn]

@Brooko
Thank you for your elaborate, organized and detailed reply.
 
There are many points I agree on and thanks to your post I noticed that there are more things I pay attention to subconsciously; or at least without thinking too much about them.

 

[joe]

C'mon guys. Can you agree to disagree here and move on?
 
I've done some thread clean-up here, and I don't want to have to lock people out of the thread. No more attacks, guys.
 
Let's move on, okay?

 

[JuanseAmador]

C'mon guys. Can you agree to disagree here and move on?

I've done some thread clean-up here, and I don't want to have to lock people out of the thread. No more attacks, guys.

Let's move on, okay?

I was trying to do this... I lack the admin power haha

 

[Radio_head]

Who to trust?
 
When I first entered the hobby, it was anyone with a higher post count and more expensive gear who would bother answering unsolicited private messages.  Especially if they didn't talk down to me like they were delivering wisdom from the mountaintop. 
 
Then it was "reviewers" that had followings - megathreads that reached tens or hundreds of pages.  They tended to have splashy features on forum home pages and had numbered rankings.  When they switched something to #1, it instantly made the manufacturer of that product thousands of dollars.  They were big for a reason, right?
 
Then it was the counter movement to these cults of personality.  Anything the wonderbread mainstream guys like was actually junk.  Try the stuff no one's heard, its so much better.
 
Then it was those who eschewed "I like this better" reviews altogether.  They were more obsessed with measurements than Miss America contestants and wanted to see teardown pics before products were even built. 
 
Then it was those with similar interests to mine.  Mention an artist I'm into, make an in-joke about the Hitchhiker's Guide, connect with me on a personal level and make me feel reviewer and reader have a connection.
 
Then it was those who had a combination of the previous elements I had looked for: experience, cachet, a bit of a cult built about themselves but they put themselves down enough to make me think it was all just in fun, who embraced measurements without making a shrine to them, and were fun to talk to.
 
Then it was just myself that I trusted.
 
Then I realized I couldn't trust myself. 
 
Thus chastened, I came back onto the forums a humbler man.  Who was I not to trust others if I was not worthy of trust myself?  Heck, I'd trust anyone with a higher post count and more expensive gear who would bother answering unsolicited private messages...

 

[luberconn]

i welcome advice from anyone.  it's just advice.  i typically take the accumulated advice and go from there as to what or how i make my own decision. 

 

[JuanseAmador]

Who to trust?

Thom Yorke

 

[luberconn]

  C'mon guys. Can you agree to disagree here and move on?
 
I've done some thread clean-up here, and I don't want to have to lock people out of the thread. No more attacks, guys.
 
Let's move on, okay?

 
why is the lounge taken so seriously here?  this is the lounge, not the science section. 

 

[CEE TEE]

When I seek advice, I look for those who have had a similar journey through gear or can explain differences against familiar gear...and/or who seem to have the same preferences overall.
Then I try to cross-check by listening to a piece of gear on several occasions as well as in my own home for a couple of weeks.  I also look at measurements to see patterns in gear that I like or relative differences from gear I know.  There is gonna be some investment of time, research, money.