When trust disappears, Reviewers are simply “noise”

[Hawaiibadboy]

Here's the point you seem to miss though George - the reviewers who did review it did exactly that. They sold it. 13 reviews. Mores 5s than 4s. Reading the reviews, apparently it can be "a bit bright". OK I can live with that. Penon to Brooko - which one would you like to review for us. I'll take the H3 - it seems to be well regarded - and according to all those reviewers it should be great quality.

Guess what George - its not.

Now imagine I'm a buyer. Further - imagine I'm a buyer on a limited budget.

If you can't see that - then you shouldn't be reviewing. And calling me "dry:" does not change the fact that:

• You claimed the X7ii was U shaped
• When I called you out on it - you explained that it was Fletcher Munson
• When I shot that down - you said that the X7ii impedance could change the frequency response of the IE800

Wrong
Wrong
Wrong

So how can any punter believe a single rword of any review you write. Further - how can Head-Fi knowingly put your reviews on the front page if you are making these sorts of claims.

That right there is everything that is wrong with this hobby. The fact that you are in denial makes it worse.

I would rather be dry and accurate than perpetuate the current situation.

PREACH!!


George send that loaner to the the guy in Italy and stop abusing the loaner privilege. You don't need FiiO to tell you what to do with a unit that is good enough to sit and debate the merits of.
SEND THE LOANER BACK

**don't wanna chat with ya, SEND THE UNIT BACK**




Brooko.....have I ever been loved on here? I just go the joy of being called (my actions) disgusting for telling Ryan he is pretty much a hype boy.
He is. (my opinion).



I'm a hack. I know that. my 1 merit is stating the obvious. That 1 thing got me a contributor badge. Somebody gotta be the bad guy.

"U" shaped DAP viewed by at least 5,000 non head-fi members and it coulda lost sales...and it is ridiculous.
"Loose bass" on an amp/DAC, front page review.

Yeah, this site needs to trim the fat

 

[Brooko]

Also, just a hypothetical, but say we were all to start reviewing on loan only. If the manufacturers see reviews as ads, isn't that just free advertising? If there's a cost to the manufacturer, at least they have to be picky about who they send the products to, usually it's a mix between lesser known writers that have the potential to hype or bigger, trusted writers like yourself and inevitably hype will be squashed out due to the trust placed within your more experienced opinion and varying user opinion on the net.

Yep - and thats the issue Ryan, and I don't really have an answer. How do you lift the standard? Because the current situation can't continue.

 

[Dobrescu George]

 

[ryanjsoo]

Yep a couple have (mainly to move them to other people so they could review them), and I've also have had a couple where the companies have changed their minds and told me to hang onto them.

I don't explicitly state in my reviews, but samples have shipped to me with return shipping envelopes, I've always moved them along to the next reviewer/owner as much as it pains me to let them go! Often the next reviewer gets to keep the sample. Otherwise, I keep the important ones worth recommendation around for comparison and the rest just go to friends and family in need, I've even shipped stuff to overseas readers at my expense and have you seen Australian shipping costs!

 

[ryanjsoo]

PREACH!!


George send that loaner to the the guy in Italy and stop abusing the loaner privilege. You don't need FiiO to tell you what to do with a unit that is good enough to sit and debate the merits of.
SEND THE LOANER BACK

**don't wanna chat with ya, SEND THE UNIT BACK**




Brooko.....have I ever been loved on here? I just go the joy of being called (my actions) disgusting for telling Ryan he is pretty much a hype boy.
He is. (my opinion).



I'm a hack. I know that. my 1 merit is stating the obvious. That 1 thing got me a contributor badge. Somebody gotta be the bad guy.

"U" shaped DAP viewed by at least 5,000 non head-fi members and it coulda lost sales...and it is ridiculous.
"Loose bass" on an amp/DAC, front page review.

Yeah, this site needs to trim the fat

I'm happy to communicate, don't complain, provide a solution.

 

[Brooko]

Chris - I think we probably need to hit reset. I'm not talking about burning anyone - in fact I'd rather we looked at solutions. I was going through what these guys were doing when I first started. Inexperience. Too much reliance on the subjective. Very little knowledge on psycho-acoustics.

I've had quite a few PMs with Ryan and he's trying to learn - asking some great questions, and realising there are different ways to view things. I pointed similar out to George - he goes on the offensive. I used to be like that too. If he's willing to learn he has a future. If he continues in current vein, he's doing himself more harm than good. Ultimately his call.

The point is - the system is wrong - how do we fix it? Can we fix it?

 

[Dobrescu George]

 

[Dobrescu George]

Chris - I think we probably need to hit reset. I'm not talking about burning anyone - in fact I'd rather we looked at solutions. I was going through what these guys were doing when I first started. Inexperience. Too much reliance on the subjective. Very little knowledge on psycho-acoustics.

I've had quite a few PMs with Ryan and he's trying to learn - asking some great questions, and realising there are different ways to view things. I pointed similar out to George - he goes on the offensive. I used to be like that too. If he's willing to learn he has a future. If he continues in current vein, he's doing himself more harm than good. Ultimately his call.

The point is - the system is wrong - how do we fix it? Can we fix it?

Okay, relaxing now, the issue stands too much with the fact that we're not paid, so we're not professionals.

You're basically expecing a professional and very controlled results from a crowd made out of amateurs doing work for free. Even samples are worth nothing unless you listen to them. For It is impossible to sell a sample, so there goes that.

What the issue is, newcomers will always have less experience and less.... method.

I am a newcomer at this point.

Of course you know better than me. I am willing to learn from a mistake. Don't expect me to tell the same mistake again. You can deconstruct me too easily, that is the issue. This makes it very hard to advance or to learn, one mistake and you're getting burned to ashes, while newcomers that post just one or two very tilted works, but never go in conversations are never getting observed.

Basically, we are doing what google is doing for money. providing advertising. To expect a baseline level of quality, you'd have to expect payments. Otherwise, it becomes a very elitist hobby.

How it is right now, it is neither, and newcomers are free to make mistakes.

At the end of the day, how it is now, it is totally free and open. The way it should be.

Can it be improved? Yes.

How?

Well... That I am thinking about.

I don't dislike you.

You're puishing sense into me. I like that. Make me think. I can come with an idea

 

[Brooko]

You're waaaaay too much keeping the side of FiiO. I am absolutely neutral. You're clearly tilted towards FiiO.

Second time you accused my of shilling - if there is a third time, you get reported. you better have proof.

 

[ryanjsoo]

Chris - I think we probably need to hit reset. I'm not talking about burning anyone - in fact I'd rather we looked at solutions. I was going through what these guys were doing when I first started. Inexperience. Too much reliance on the subjective. Very little knowledge on psycho-acoustics.

I've had quite a few PMs with Ryan and he's trying to learn - asking some great questions, and realising there are different ways to view things. I pointed similar out to George - he goes on the offensive. I used to be like that too. If he's willing to learn he has a future. If he continues in current vein, he's doing himself more harm than good. Ultimately his call.

The point is - the system is wrong - how do we fix it? Can we fix it?

This is kind of antithetical and some will hate me for saying this, but I honestly need more gear to compare. As @Hawaiibadboy has stated, there are issues with my source reviews, in that regard, I am very subjective because I don't have a lot of experience or comparison. I'm confident in my ability to break down a sound but not so much in my ability to find its place in the market and I think many are secretly in the same position.

On that note, I didn't actually ask Fiio to send me their products, they shipped them to me without telling me, sure I could send them back, but I see them as a valuable resource to further my future reviews. As is, the best I can do is say it like I hear it.

Therefore, I feel that the best way for us to improve is to work together. I've been planning collaboration with some other Australian reviewers, whatever I have is free to share to others for experience and for another opinion, I don't care if it contradicts my own. The larger our repository, the more objective we become and the less "outstanding" a particular product becomes, mitigating hype.

It's also important to watch our adjectives, I love writing, I'm very particular about the words I use to describe every subjective aspect. I've come to understand that to many readers, outstanding, terrific and very good all mean the same thing. As a result, I'll work on that in future, perhaps we should start describing a lot more as "mediocre" or "above average" rather than just "good".

 

[Dobrescu George]

 

[a_recording]

How do you lift the standard? Because the current situation can't continue.

I think the situation can continue, because it is profitable and people enjoy it. I don't think head-fi regards the 'situation' as a problem, and the audience that does regard the 'situation' as a problem have probably elected to get their information elsewhere. If you believe that there is an audience for the higher standard, then you'll probably have to work very hard with likeminded folk to cultivate it.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

Ryan, I am happy that Brooko is Happy. If he thinks you are cool then i am cool with that. I will not interrupt you any longer

George, got no positive words so I am done

 

[Brooko]

Ryan- have you thought about getting some measurement equipment? It will help with the accuracy. the more accurate you are, the better the calls you can make.

Also - I'm happy to share any review samples as long as the manufacturers are fine with it - and I can't see any objections. The more tours we do - the more everyone benefits.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I think the situation can continue, because it is profitable and people enjoy it. I don't think head-fi regards the 'situation' as a problem, and the audience that does regard the 'situation' as a problem have probably elected to get their information elsewhere. If you believe that there is an audience for the higher standard, then you'll probably have to work very hard with likeminded folk to cultivate it.

Agreed.

Then, you can clearly combine a few biggest reviewers from each area to work together and make like a group of reviewers and that would theoretically increase the quality of the writing.