The absence of negative reviews

[gene]

I agree on all points Cliff, but one.
The quote above refers to what AH calls "previews" and Imo should not be mixed with real reviews. Nothing red flag about them, but please,please these previews, make review section on main site much harder and confusing to navigate.

Preview articles are a necessary evil. We can't possibly review every product on the market and we had to have an article format to still provide coverage while also getting good SEO. Our Preview articles tend to have more info than what most AV publications call "reviews".

Most readers don't even use NAV anymore. They find us on Google. Hence why we simplified the NAV structure and spent a ton of $$$ reorganizing our folder structure to be simpler. Goto the sitemap at the bottom of the site and you will see.

Sorry about not separating previews from reviews. That would be a challenge given how everything is structured. We will try to do something special for reviews during phase2 of the Audioholics redesign.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Preview articles are a necessary evil. We can't possibly review every product on the market and we had to have an article format to still provide coverage while also getting good SEO. Our Preview articles tend to have more info than what most AV publications call "reviews".

Most readers don't even use NAV anymore. They find us on Google. Hence why we simplified the NAV structure and spent a ton of $$$ reorganizing our folder structure to be simpler. Goto the sitemap at the bottom of the site and you will see.

Sorry about not separating previews from reviews. That would be a challenge given how everything is structured. We will try to do something special for reviews during phase2 of the Audioholics redesign.

Thank you for response Gene. I am glad that you understand the issue. I also hope in near future we'd be able to somehow "filter" previews from reviews section as some soft of option, which shouldn't affect the seo

In fact I could get you in touch in someone who's very good with SEO

 

[Jeepers]

I don't care whether a review is good or bad, as long as it is honest.

Exactly ... Pursuing the Truth in Audio & Video ...

 

[panteragstk]

Exactly ... Pursuing the Truth in Audio & Video ...

Which is why I'm loyal to this site. No BS reviews are all I care about. I don't need fluff or "they paid me to say this" when researching a product or trying to increase my knowledge. Never happens here. There is just good info. Granted, some of the guest reviewers aren't as good as the staff, but there is nothing wrong with alternate viewpoints.

 

[Ears to you]

I just would like to offer a viewpoint that was told to me from someone I know to be a credible source. My next door neighbor owns and operates a very high end AV sales and installation company here in the New York area. They do whole house installs (audio, HT, security, smart-house controls, etc) that are often well into the mega 6 - low 7 figures, often on homes/estates that cost or are worth double digit millions, and often owned by celebrities, top-of-the-line doctors, lawyers, business owners, banking execs, etc.. Years ago, he worked in sales in a very high end audio boutique shop here in Westchester County, and I say all to establish that his experience and knowledge is quite extensive. He personally knows or knew many sales reps from the high end companies, as well as most of the editors, publishers, and reviewers for the US audio magazines, and again, I am just saying this to establish that he is not simply talking from hearsay or innuendo.

I once asked him this same question about why the mags all seem to only rave about the products in their reviews. He told me that very often, companies and reviewers have an under-the-table arrangement set up, whereby the company ships a piece of equipment to the reviewer, then "accidentally" forgets to ask for it back. The reviewer then lists and sells the piece on ebay or audiogon under an obviously disguised alter identity, and the companies can then honestly say that they are not "paying" for a positive review, but instead, the writer who is making peanuts from the magazine for his reviews receives this "bonus", and this supplements his income. He named many recognizable names in the high end audio field that we all have heard of, which I will not repeat here, and says that reading these reviews simply equates to reading ad copy.

Now, I am sure that there must be exceptions to this practice, but he feels that it is very prevalent, and an ugly little unspoken secret of the audio and HT field that he knows of firsthand.

I personally tremendously benefit from reading forum members' personal reviews on this and other audio websites, as the technical background and audio experience of many posters equals or often exceeds that of these pro reviewers from the mags.

 

[Ponzio]

It’s obvious that all the positive reviews are not an accident and should be taken with a grain of salt … and a double shot of Jack. Having recently gone thru a shopping spree for speakers, CD/DVD player, AVR, etc. I too was a bit flummoxed on what to buy after reading various reviews. While some reviews, if not most were puff pieces, some did offer technical proof for their enthusiasm. The bottom line is consumer beware and get your butt out of the house and do your own critical listening. Also sites like Audioholics are invaluable since members aren’t on the take when offering their own views. Of course you have to keep in mind that their views are subjective. I mean who’s going to fess up that they spent $5K for a set of speakers and now realize they made a tragic mistake. We all have egos and we may need to re-sell them to recoup our losses. It’s like bad-mouthing your wife to friends. This is where perusing the sales ads long term like Audiogon, here, eBay, etc. gives you some insight on a products viability. Granted you’re going to get the enthusiast who changes equipment like I change my underwear .. every day if you’re curious … or a product was mass produced beyond the norm and the buyers preferences did not mesh. It just seemed to me that lot of products of inferior quality always seemed to be on sale and the price depreciation was drastic from the original MSRP. Speaking personally I had a devil of a time deciding which pair of speakers to get for my 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] sound system. I fellin love with the Ascend Acoustics Sierra’s between buyer’s opinions, the reviews, limited re-sale availability and was ready to pull the trigger. I ended up with a pair of KEF LS50’s based on the only criteria that mattered, my ears, at a local shop. Could the Sierra’s be a better speaker; quite possibly, but I wasn’t about to blow $1K or more to find out. Now if I could justfigure out how to start a new paragraph in a reply I’d be a happy camper.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Now if I could justfigure out how to start a new paragraph in a reply I’d be a happy camper.

Enter key works quite nicely

See?

 

[Hobbit]

Enter key works quite nicely

See?

There's a bug in ie10 where the return/enter key doesn't always work. I'm on Chrome now for that reason....

I seem to be the voice of dissent here, and I'll stick by it... for now

But can someone please post real life examples? From my experience I can't say any $x speaker really sucks when compared to another $x speaker. Just consider how many options show up every time someone asks which speaker for this $$ much. I may not be the most hard core of audiophiles, but I am a musician and do critically listen to lots of music of all varieties. I'm always learning too....

BTW, of course I'm neglecting great deals, clearance, super sales, etc. I also know there's a few brand names out there that people are willing to pay a premium for (bose?), I mean as a whole group.

 

[Ponzio]

Enter key works quite nicely

See?

Either my keyboard is a North Korean Logitech knock-off or I'm doing something wrong. At this point I would normally push the "Enter" key and start a new paragraph with some more witty banter but it doesn't f@#$%^&* work for me. It worked at one time on the site for me but now ... fughetaboutit. After 35 years as a telecommunications/VoIP tech I know a "wee" bit about these things but this has me baffled. It's probably better this way, so I don't drone on and on.

 

[gene]

I just would like to offer a viewpoint that was told to me from someone I know to be a credible source. My next door neighbor owns and operates a very high end AV sales and installation company here in the New York area. They do whole house installs (audio, HT, security, smart-house controls, etc) that are often well into the mega 6 - low 7 figures, often on homes/estates that cost or are worth double digit millions, and often owned by celebrities, top-of-the-line doctors, lawyers, business owners, banking execs, etc.. Years ago, he worked in sales in a very high end audio boutique shop here in Westchester County, and I say all to establish that his experience and knowledge is quite extensive. He personally knows or knew many sales reps from the high end companies, as well as most of the editors, publishers, and reviewers for the US audio magazines, and again, I am just saying this to establish that he is not simply talking from hearsay or innuendo.

I once asked him this same question about why the mags all seem to only rave about the products in their reviews. He told me that very often, companies and reviewers have an under-the-table arrangement set up, whereby the company ships a piece of equipment to the reviewer, then "accidentally" forgets to ask for it back. The reviewer then lists and sells the piece on ebay or audiogon under an obviously disguised alter identity, and the companies can then honestly say that they are not "paying" for a positive review, but instead, the writer who is making peanuts from the magazine for his reviews receives this "bonus", and this supplements his income. He named many recognizable names in the high end audio field that we all have heard of, which I will not repeat here, and says that reading these reviews simply equates to reading ad copy.

Now, I am sure that there must be exceptions to this practice, but he feels that it is very prevalent, and an ugly little unspoken secret of the audio and HT field that he knows of firsthand.

I personally tremendously benefit from reading forum members' personal reviews on this and other audio websites, as the technical background and audio experience of many posters equals or often exceeds that of these pro reviewers from the mags.

I've run this site for over 14 years now and NEVER been offered to "review and sell" equipment by any manufacturer. That's not something that would even remotely interest me nor would I want to even manage such an endeavor. I doubt very much that happens with any AV publication. Never heard stories like this and I know a lot of industry insiders from both the manufacturing world and publication world as well. However there are some dealers that quietly sell equipment through Audiogon. In some cases the manufacturers don't realize the dealers are doing this but when they do, they typically shut that down.

That being said, its not uncommon for print magazines to deny reviewing equipment from a particular company after more than one or two times reviews have already been done for them without a formal ad contract in place. They justify this by claiming you have to create demand for the brand so the reviews garner more traction. That doesn't mean the review will be pro biased towards the advertiser however. While I don't agree with this logic, I respect and understand it. Print magazines have a lot of overhead, more so than online AV magazines. We have our share of overhead too and I must admit it troubles me when manufacturers continually solicit us for product reviews, we oblige and then go place ads on a competitor site that not only has far less traffic than us, but their editorial coverage is far less detailed and of course less critical.

Some of the very large tech sites (ie. CNET type sites) won't review gear unless the manufacturer is linked in with affiliates like pricegrabber or amazon so they can get referral sales based on the traffic their reviews generate.

It's also pretty common that review magazines will priority book reviews in their schedules for clients first. Given that they/us have limited resources, again I don't see this as a conflict of interest. You have formal relations with a manufacturer, why not provide them shorter lead times on reviews as opposed to companies you've never worked with? This again does not garner any favoritism in the editorial coverage. The people writing the reviews are simply handed a product and instruction to write the review by the main editor / owner of the publication. They typically aren't involved with any of the inner workings of the publication. Nobody deals with ad stuff at Audioholics but me, a 3rd party ad agency, and my wife who manages the finances.

I believe part of the reason you often see an over abundance of positive reviews is most people tend to be kind in nature when writing about a hobby. They generally love to play with new gear and want to make sure they won't piss off everyone in the industry so they can continue doing this line of work. In addition, a large portion of folks writing equipment reviews typically don't have an engineering or even a technical background. They often don't know how to objectively measure or pick apart product faults.

Consumer reviews can be a mixed bag of results as well as people that tend to own a product will by default love it and want everyone else to confirm their opinion on loving it too.

Still good information can be learned at least about how a product functions if the review is thorough even if its overly positive. A review should never be used as a sole reason for buying or not buying, liking or not liking a product. That is ultimately up to the consumer to decide for themselves.

 

[jliedeka]

I know somebody who reviews audio gear. The most that reviewers get is the opportunity to buy the product under review for a substantial discount. They call that an accommodation price. The guy got a pair of Wilson speakers for much lower than retail but still paid several thousand for them.

Jim

 

[300exoh]

I've only read ONE poor speaker review in all my years as an audio enthusiast and that was Bose. Why is it that everyone is willing to piss off bose for making cheap sub-par products yet they tip toe around with any other speaker reviews? If a company is making crappy products then they should be called out IMO. Consumers shouldnt have to read between the lines to find the truth from what is supposed to be a trusted reviewer...it basically leaves the consumer on their own as if the review never even existed so why bother? I would think if there were a few negative reviews then MAYBE companies would step up and build a better product or go out of business. I guess in the end it doesnt really matter since even with MANY poor reviews people still buy bose

 

[Hobbit]

I believe part of the reason you often see an over abundance of positive reviews is most people tend to be kind in nature when writing about a hobby. They generally love to play with new gear and want to make sure they won't piss off everyone in the industry so they can continue doing this line of work. In addition, a large portion of folks writing equipment reviews typically don't have an engineering or even a technical background. They often don't know how to objectively measure or pick apart product faults.

Still good information can be learned at least about how a product functions if the review is thorough even if its overly positive. A review should never be used as a sole reason for buying or not buying, liking or not liking a product. That is ultimately up to the consumer to decide for themselves.

I have degrees in physics and electrical engineering and by day I work as an EE (test engineer nowadays). There's an adage; measure with a micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with an ax. I would follow my ears over lots of pretty graphs any day. Though it's much easier to argue about specs than what might sound best. There's a similarity here in the audiophile world to the camera world which is filled with pixel peepers. Finding differences in a lab setting is much easier than hearing, or seeing, differences in the real world. I've seen discussions here of electrical measurements that I do not believe for one instance that anyone can hear, especially with the components and design techniques everyone has available for use today. Having said that, I do tend to agree with Peng that while you can hear subtleties in amps, the biggest differences are in speakers and quality recordings (which I am amazed in today's age how many not so good ones there are). I do believe that you need to also read lots of reviews, understand where the reviewer is coming from emotionally and technically, and try and read between those lines to get the full picture.

BTW, I've seen the same thing on this site when people discuss products. To my dismay, not being a huge Apple fan earned me a lot of red dots under my name. IMO, very nice hardware, yes; easier to use? no; overpriced consumer electronics compared to similar offerings on something that will be replaced in a couple of years? yes. That's just my opinion. Strangely, Strangely, the person I made the comment to who went on a tirade about a product (which I have no issues with) compared to my comment, didn't get any negative responses. For the love of apple....

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

A lot of speakers sound very good - even the speakers that don't measure very well or have the best designs.

Keep in mind that speakers may sound poorly due to various reasons, which may not be the fault of the speakers - poor source, setup, room acoustics, placement, etc. In a better situation, the speakers may sound much better.

So it does not surprise me at all to see mostly POSITIVE reviews.

 

[theJman]

I've really enjoyed this thread. Having published about 2 dozen reviews myself I find the various opinions regarding content rather insightful.

My situation is a bit different than the norm though, because I started as an "independent" and just posted my evaluations on several forums in thread posts. In that manner I was beholden to no one, and was completely free to say exactly what I wanted to. I've since aligned myself with one organization, so I'm no longer independent, but I do still have complete freedom from being redacted. Basically I insisted on being able to say what I wanted and how I wanted to before deciding to pursue an exclusive deal. They completely agreed, so I signed on.

Bottom line is there are situations were you do get carte blanche regarding content, and some of us take full advantage of the freedom. That's not to say everyone else in a similar situation avails themselves appropriately, so there may be some liberties taken around truthfulness. I've only spoken with a few others who do reviews, so I can't honestly comment about how it works in other instances, but that's how it is with me at least.