Who is the best reviewer?

[MylesBAstor]

Harry and Gordon made this whole forum possible. I have never heard Gordon s system but I have been to HP many times. It is he who inspired me to do better and taught me almost every time I was there .. Harry is about the musical truth sometimes unpopular.\It was never about HiFi. It is never about gear worship.He knows his music as well
Show reviewing etc is just total BS. Its all in the details and the set up. How some reviewers can have a new reference each issue and make criteria for every product so it gets a good review to me is nonsense. IMHO its takes weeks and sometimes months to get a system "singing."
I only wish that more people could get to hear what he has done then they would really know what a audio system is capable of even if they don't own it!

Hi Elliot: Nice to see you here. Look forward to your posts

 

[Elliot G.]

Thanks Miles, I am coming back Planning on doing some new things this fall. Mayube you would like to come down when we are ready?

 

[Steve Williams]

Heck Myles I would take E up on that offer. Im told he puts on a great bash

 

[MylesBAstor]

Thanks Miles, I am coming back Planning on doing some new things this fall. Mayube you would like to come down when we are ready?

Hi Elliot,

PM me with the info. Can't promise anything since business this year has been real slow and had only banked on getting to RMAF this year. But am interested in what you're doing

 

[caesar]

Mission accomplished.

I am glad you are finding my thread helpful.

Now I have an additional suggestion for you: Turn on your system. Let it warm up for 45-60 minutes. Put on some relaxing music. Pour a nice glass of champagne. Sip it slowly.

Breathe in slowly...Exhale even more slowly... Let the rest of what you are holding in melt and bubble away... Just keep watching the bubbles...Smile....

 

[caesar]

Another excellent reviewer that has not been brought up yet is Marc Mickelson. He has an excellent writing style. He also does a superb job of comparing similarly priced gear to make his points.

He used to review for Soundstage, but now has his own website. I definitely wished he reviewed more stuff.

 

[Elliot G.]

send me your email

 

[jazdoc]

My favorite reviewer is Michael Lavorgna. He used to write the great "Road Trip" pieces for 6moons.com. A stop at his blog http://www.twitteringmachines.com has become a daily ritual.

Most influential necessarily reflects personal tastes and preferences. As a vinyl aficionado I would nominate Michael Fremer. Love him or hate (I enjoy his work), he certainly helped keep analog alive during the dark days of 'perfect sound forever'.

 

[Jaguar]

I'm not familiar with many of the reviewers mentioned here. However 6 Moons was the first magazine I started reading and is by far the most valuable to me, because they focus on the products that interest me. All of their writers respond to my emails.

David Kan has given me some good tips. By following Srajan's choices, I've been steered in the right direction more often than not. Much of his writing goes over my head technically and sometimes it's just hard to follow period, but I've learned a lot from his writing and it challenges my knowledge more than most. Also, I think many of the other writers do not have ears that are in the same league, but then again, I'm sure there are many that do.

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

On the subject of reviewers, we have roundly and sometimes harshly criticized them .. Often for the right reasons. It happens that at times ome group of reviewers are trying to present some objectivity. Oh No they are not perfct, by any stretch but one could say that some are trying ...

The group of reviewers at Soundstage should be congratulated .. They are trying to present the information with objectivity. Their measurements metods and protocols are far from amateurish. They do try to correlate what they report and hear with what they measure .. A welcome initiative .. Let's at least praise them for their effort ...
I have no affiliation with Soundstage , know none of these guys on a personal basis and don't agree with many of their reviews but when praise is due .. Hey! Why not?

 

[caesar]

Check out the avguide site for the best and worst of reviews. Anthony Cordesman does a superb job of explaining why he chose Quad speaker and electronics as his reference system. The article is well written. He builds off reviews of Valin and Paul Seydor/ Dick Olsher??? to explain the gear in even more depth and provide another perspective in addition to the original writers. Even an experienced user can learn from that - and enjoy reading it at the same time.

Now AHC has another review of the Meridian player. And that piece of work is just PATHETIC. AHC is the guy who loved the $50K+ Burmester cd player. He also loved the Boulder cd player. Of course he never compared/ contrasted those to any other cd player. Personally, I have an oppo. When I listen to it in my system and I am in a good mood, it sounds sublime. However, when I plug in something even better - it blows the Oppo away. However, without plugging the better player, the Oppo sounds pretty damn good.

So why should we take AHC's word that those 2 players are great? Why do the avguide editors take us for idiots? Why didn't AHC compare the meridian to the Boulder (even from memory or from his notes)? Why wasn't the Boulder sent to Harley, who reviews most cd players? Are the Boulder and the Burmester that much better than the Meridian, or does the Meridian wipe the floor with those 2 players? PATHETIC way to cover up for over-priced equipment.

 

[microstrip]

The group of reviewers at Soundstage should be congratulated .. They are trying to present the information with objectivity. Their measurements metods and protocols are far from amateurish. They do try to correlate what they report and hear with what they measure .. A welcome initiative .. Let's at least praise them for their effort ...

FranzM, you raise a very pertinent aspect of reviewing. As you, I enjoy most Soundstage reviews (sometimes they say in a nice way very nice things about the equipment I have bought...) and appreciate their initiative of showing good measurements. But apart from showing that the equipment is (or not ) properly designed and the effects of speaker impedance variation or other very basic things, I do not remember reading any significant correlation between measurements and listening. Unhappily I think we are still very far from that stage.

 

[Ocean56]

Art Dudley. I wish Listener magazine was still around, because it's by far the best audio magazine I've read.

 

[flez007]

I like Fremer, particulary his recommendations on musical material. I also liked Greenberg, I think Ken Kessler is fun to read, as well as informative.

 

[Randy Bessinger]

I trust Kal's reviews and that is what I want in a reviewer. Someone who I beleive is as unbiased as humans can get. I also used to really like Don Keeles speaker reviews in the old Audio magazine. I know, I am old.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Ok.....so you like a reviewer (and it doesn't matter who it is), what's his impact on YOU? Do you follow his recommendations and audition the brands he spoke of highly, ignoring or putting aside other brands you may have considered? If you don't ignore his recommendation, how do you review other components without bias? Can you?

John

 

[Steve Williams]

John

True however many people like a reviewer not because of what he writes but rather how he writes

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

John

True however many people like a reviewer not because of what he writes but rather how he writes

Agreed 100%....

John

 

[Randy Bessinger]

Ok.....so you like a reviewer (and it doesn't matter who it is), what's his impact on YOU? Do you follow his recommendations and audition the brands he spoke of highly, ignoring or putting aside other brands you may have considered? If you don't ignore his recommendation, how do you review other components without bias? Can you?

John

I consider his recommendations. I also will respect his opinions on set-up. The questions you ask seem so black and white and I am not sure why?? Like do you do this or that? Why not both?

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

I consider his recommendations. I also will respect his opinions on set-up. The questions you ask seem so black and white and I am not sure why?? Like do you do this or that? Why not both?

Didn't mean them to be interpreted so matter-of-factly, but you have a point now that I read my post more thoroughly. And yes, no reason why you can't do both.

John