There are many websites, blogs or articles who give audio review, pretending they are experts (maybe experts in writing poems) but admit dont know how to solder or build anything, he can only buy expensive stuff.
It just like someone trying to be food critics but he has no idea on how to cut an onion.
some says culinary world is so mean, but it seems audio world is so welcoming for non-experienced guy became a master reviewer, and maybe getting money from site visitor ads.
isn't there any boards or group in audio world who will say : hey A, you are not competent to make any review or vise versa.
It just like someone trying to be food critics but he has no idea on how to cut an onion.
some says culinary world is so mean, but it seems audio world is so welcoming for non-experienced guy became a master reviewer, and maybe getting money from site visitor ads.
isn't there any boards or group in audio world who will say : hey A, you are not competent to make any review or vise versa.
Part of the wonder of the internet is that anyone can set themselves up as an expert and make money from gullible people. It happened before the internet but only a few could get to write nonsense for magazines and newspapers.
Anyone who buys something on the basis of an internet recommendation deserves what they get. They will be happy, as they are following fashion.
Reviewers usually talk about sound quality (which they may know something about) and build quality (which they may know less about, but will be impressed by impressive builds). They usually say nothing about circuit quality, which is what actually matters most of all.
Anyone who buys something on the basis of an internet recommendation deserves what they get. They will be happy, as they are following fashion.
Reviewers usually talk about sound quality (which they may know something about) and build quality (which they may know less about, but will be impressed by impressive builds). They usually say nothing about circuit quality, which is what actually matters most of all.
do you mean as a chef? dont mix between a profession (chef) or a skill (can cook). is there any restaurant critics who can not cook? his job maybe not a chef
It doesn't follow necessarily that a restaurant critic can cook, the only thing that you can infer is that they either legitimately can tell good food and good service from the converse or they can't.
Most audio reviewers don't know squat about electronic design, and unfortunately many of the people designing high end electronics know a lot less than they think they do. This is not a universal truth, as there are genuinely talented engineering trained audio designers out there. You may recognize a few.
I would say from experience if a large number of reviewers at a given publication say something is good, it might in fact be. I have in the past purchased a number of components I felt to be good, to subsequently find that a large number of reviewers actually agreed with my assessment. (Not for the most part people I know either) Some of those components went on to garner recommendations and high ratings. Two examples; the Schick 12 inch tonearm, and the Sony HAP-Z1ES. The Schick has moved on, but the HAP gets to stay.
Most audio reviewers don't know squat about electronic design, and unfortunately many of the people designing high end electronics know a lot less than they think they do. This is not a universal truth, as there are genuinely talented engineering trained audio designers out there. You may recognize a few.
I would say from experience if a large number of reviewers at a given publication say something is good, it might in fact be. I have in the past purchased a number of components I felt to be good, to subsequently find that a large number of reviewers actually agreed with my assessment. (Not for the most part people I know either) Some of those components went on to garner recommendations and high ratings. Two examples; the Schick 12 inch tonearm, and the Sony HAP-Z1ES. The Schick has moved on, but the HAP gets to stay.
I can think of good restaurant reviews I have read. I have no idea of the cooking skills of the reviewer. I can think of good audio reviews I have read. I have no idea of the DIY skills of the reviewer.
Nobody knows what you are really talking about. What aspect of DIY? Design? Construction? Measurement? Some mysterious listening skill?
An audio reviewers examination board that hands out certificates, why not? You may have created a whole new market for courses in audio reviewing.
I think he's trying to convey some "you can't judge something you can't make yourself" which is laced with logical fallacies. There are those who can judge and evaluatea product or performance and there are those that can make the product or performance. Those two people can occur in the same person, but not necessarily.
An interesting concept, too bad it's wrong.
For another example, I know sound engineers who can't play or sing, and I know Guitar Techs who travel with various acts and are the only ones allowed to touch the guitars or drums etc but can't play the instrument (they can find a few notes, but timing ... ummmm, not so great).
The other problem with the idea is that the more you know about, and the more you actually do, DIY, the less interest you have in commercial equipment, and therefore the less interest you have in reviewing same.
And then there is how to reconcile the retail prices of gear versus your DIY'ed projects (or experiments) where you pretty much never cost out your time, even at the rate of the minimal wages of offshore assemblers. It's a very delicate row to hoe, to be fair to both hobbyists and manufacturers.
They have different motivations, different cost structures, different marketing goals, different distribution. Many DIYers don't have any idea what it takes to manufacture even a simple product. It definitely isn't the same as building a copy for yourself or even for a few friends.
So, assuming the accomplished DIY'er has the opportunity to become a commercial product reviewer, I think that many would just decline to go there.
For another example, I know sound engineers who can't play or sing, and I know Guitar Techs who travel with various acts and are the only ones allowed to touch the guitars or drums etc but can't play the instrument (they can find a few notes, but timing ... ummmm, not so great).
The other problem with the idea is that the more you know about, and the more you actually do, DIY, the less interest you have in commercial equipment, and therefore the less interest you have in reviewing same.
And then there is how to reconcile the retail prices of gear versus your DIY'ed projects (or experiments) where you pretty much never cost out your time, even at the rate of the minimal wages of offshore assemblers. It's a very delicate row to hoe, to be fair to both hobbyists and manufacturers.
They have different motivations, different cost structures, different marketing goals, different distribution. Many DIYers don't have any idea what it takes to manufacture even a simple product. It definitely isn't the same as building a copy for yourself or even for a few friends.
So, assuming the accomplished DIY'er has the opportunity to become a commercial product reviewer, I think that many would just decline to go there.
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This makes me think, what is the definition of a musician? For example Brian Eno by his own admission is not a very good instrument player, but I think he is a good musician because he has an ear and can create music.
I'm confused...why would circuit quality matter more than sound quality? In fact, why would anything matter other than sound quality? (Unless it was so cheap that it had good SQ for a short time before breaking.) Circuit quality matters because/if it affects SQ.
To the food analogy, that is like saying the freshness of the ingredients matters more than the taste. The freshness matters because/if it affects the taste.
It would matter of that's what you value most of all. Everyone has preferences.
It's not like technical knowledge is going to be a fix-all for choosing reviewers, either. Us DIYers or even pro designers can all too easily get caught up in their favorite technology or some parameter we think is super important and become just as biased as folks who can only talk model numbers and manufacturers. I've been -- uh -- very 'close' to some who at times placed high emphasis on whether an amp was 'complementary symmetry' or class A, or a speaker was in some way 'time aligned' or 'point source' or wide dispersion, etc. Knowing something about how something works doesn't shield one from having unfounded biases.
This in a nutshell is it for me. Both as a practicing electrical engineer (no longer in audio) and as an avid diyer, I have little interest in reviewing (I'm a former reviewer) or even in listening to things critically that I didn't have a hand in outside of the usual audio show context.
You've missed a couple of fundamental things, one might be EMC compatibility in the rising tide of electronic noise in the environment, another might be the device's long term reliability - i.e. is everything working within limits dictated by good engineering practice, so that it has a long, happy life of bringing you listening pleasure, and finally is it safe to use and will it cause no harm if something catastrophic goes wrong with it - will you wake up one night to your house burning down around you because something went wrong with a piece of poorly designed equipment. Any legitimately engineered hardware would take these circuit design/product design issues into account as well as sounding good enough to make you want to buy it.
It doesn't matter how good a component sounds if it stops working, electrocutes you, wrecks other components or burns your house down - so circuit design and product design matter.
I routinely get email asking me what I think about some piece of audio equipment that I have never heard of. Since I make all my own stuff, I have not seen much of what's out there. The few exceptions are when I bring one of my amps to visit someone's system. I sold a few amps that way in the early days.
We found that engineers are terrible reviewers of cell phone performance. When you want and honest cell phone review, you go to the local shopping mall! That's what we (Motorola) did.
i had no spesific goal on this post, hence i put it on Lounge
anyone read about Crispy Rendang news lately? it was viral when on previous day i spent 5hrs just to cook rendang and it was not crispy i can say those judges are not competent for asian food.
when I read troels review on speakers, i can say this guy knows what he writes. but his words written maybe can't beat the poetic words from the reviewer as my topic
those rich guy who has a company maybe dont have anytime to DIY at all, he might only come to high prices store and read the review on the websites whose reviewer also rich guy who never DIY.
or maybe DIY is the last option for us who dont have deep pockets?
sometimes i want to read at the end of the review 'this product is too expensive, dont buy it. you better visit diyaudio.com or htguide.com or hometheatershack.com and buy something better' l.o.l
anyone read about Crispy Rendang news lately? it was viral when on previous day i spent 5hrs just to cook rendang and it was not crispy
i can say those judges are not competent for asian food.when I read troels review on speakers, i can say this guy knows what he writes. but his words written maybe can't beat the poetic words from the reviewer as my topic
those rich guy who has a company maybe dont have anytime to DIY at all, he might only come to high prices store and read the review on the websites whose reviewer also rich guy who never DIY.
or maybe DIY is the last option for us who dont have deep pockets?
sometimes i want to read at the end of the review 'this product is too expensive, dont buy it. you better visit diyaudio.com or htguide.com or hometheatershack.com and buy something better' l.o.l
It is circuit quality which is the foundation of sound quality. Sound quality, as usually judged, is fairly subjective; the reviewer is telling you whether he likes it, not whether it is a faithful reproduction of the original. Circuit quality is more objective (although perhaps not entirely objective); there would probably be more agreement among those who understand circuits whether a circuit is a good one or not.
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