I thought this would be good for discussion this morning. Not officially published until July 1:
http://ultraaudio.com/opinion/20100701.htm
http://ultraaudio.com/opinion/20100701.htm
A number of magazines I have subscribed to over the years have expressed clear policy of, "we don't publish bad reviews. If we find something seriously wrong we let the manufacturer know to remedy it." I think the last instance of this was a boating magazine. Of course, there are magazines/reviewers at the other extreme such as Consumer Reports who have gone as far as defending themselves in the court on not being biased. So discussions like this are difficult to have if they are meant to cover the entire industry.
Having been the other side of this from product supplier point of view, I have also seen a range. I was once invited to a panel discussion with our competitors. I arrived only to find the reviewer chatting away with the rep from my competitor as if they were long lost friends. He was grilling him on where his free sweater was, etc. I arrive and as soon as I said hello, I got the dirtiest look you can imagine. He proceeded to treat me that way for years to come. He would constantly create these "shootouts" with the other company where it was clear that they had written the script for him and would refuse to take any feedback or changes from us. At the time, he wrote for the #1 magazine in tech world so his influence over us was tremendous.
I thought this would be good for discussion this morning. Not officially published until July 1:
http://ultraaudio.com/opinion/20100701.htm
I miss Julian Hersch. Seriously, I don't believe reviews are often overtly influenced by advertising because it is impractical and because people generally want to believe they have more integrity than to trade their professional ethics for an ad placement. Indirectly? Maybe. In either case, that's not the problem with reviews today. The problem is a total lack of discipline. There is seldom any research, measurement, or even structured listening involved. Even weak attempts at objectivity are seldom made. The typical audio review, here in the early 20th century, is the result of one listener, with all his personal biases (brand, price, technology platform, detailed design approach...) fully engaged, expressing one opinion. A user review may be little more than purchase justification, but this kind of professional review is not much better. Call it pre-conceived notion justification. Will a reviewer who is a huge believer in computer audio feeding active monitors/sub powered by mass quantities of A/B solid state-generated headroom fall in love with a turntable into an SET tube amp driving big horn loaded speakers, or even give such a system a fair reading? He will try, but ask yourself the simpler question: Is (s)he human?
No, measurements do not tell the whole story. And gathering together a half-dozen staffers, friends and/or music lovers to listen and compare for awhile without looking at the beautiful casework and the familiar logos does not make for a statistically valid test. But it would be a huge leap forward from what we most often get today, which has all the validity of a movie review. Do you like heavy drama or Pixar? Choose your reviewer well and you will always be reinforced.
P
I think that I have both a Counterpoint pre-amp and Museatex pre-amp review from around 1990 taken from Stereo Review. I may have to go back and see if these statements hold up with those two articles.Julian's reviews the work of a single person
I think that I have both a Counterpoint pre-amp and Museatex pre-amp review from around 1990 taken from Stereo Review. I may have to go back and see if these statements hold up with those two articles.
I still have to scan the articles, broke down and bought a new All-in-One /scanner, it even does 11x17.
OTOH many magazines plainly state they have no interest in reviewing bad products. That is they choose products which they have already auditioned and think might be of interest to their readers. There is a difference between a "critic" and a reviewer. The critic sees himself more as a policeman of the arts. His mission is to ferret out the negative. The reviewer merely brings things to the readers attention allowing them to make their own decision.
The real quandry for the reviewer is what to do when a big name lays an eggg. If Dace Wilson puts out a bad product that the reviewer knows will be purchased based on brand loyalty, does the reviewer have only obligation to report that to his readers? Hopefully the answer will be yes.
From what I've been rudely exposed to in the past, the ability to create a PDF and post it on the Internet.What are the requirements for a person to be a reviewer?
Also, I've seen industry accomodation pricing at 50 - 80% off!!! I know peoples opinions are swayed greatly by cost vs. value.
Excuse me but weren't dear Julian's reviews the work of a single person using meaningless measurements such as THD generated from his OWN lab? Do you think he did that for free? How much did he collect for that?
And do you remember that Julian never ever listened to the gear being reviewed and went totally by the measurements because everything sounded the same?
And Julian was so out of touch with audio that it wasn't funny. Take for instance when he was at a mid-80s NY Audio Society meeting and someone asked him about tubes vs. transistor debate. His response was that tubes were noisy. Someone pointed out that wasn't totally correct and Julian admitted the last time he had heard a tube amplifier was around 1960, when transistors came out. He hadn't heard a tube product in over 25 years!
And I'm really sorry to burst your bubble but those magazines sold their covers too. How much impartiality does that show? And they wouldn't review equipment from manufacturer B because it would offend manufacturer A who paid them big ad bucks.
SP certainly has reviews with JA doing the measurements that are far more valid than anything Julian dreamed of.
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