Any Advice for those Listening to Youtube Reviewers?
I’d like to recognize that it takes a great set of self promotional skills to become successful in the Youtube world. That said most of the audio reviewers I’ve seen don’t have the experience to review, or the kind of space that would really allow gear to shine.
Most of them start of with K-Mart like gear, did their formula and got popular, and jumped far up the audio food chain. Of course everything they review is going to be great compared to the Service Merchandise system they sold last year.
Just throwing it out there that people should be careful listening to these guys that are mostly working for the views/money (not that some aren’t passionate).
I think Sean at Zero Fidelity for what he review does a good job. He doesn't review DAC's, turntables or tube amps but what he does review his assessment are pretty accurate, just listen carefully.
It seems most people will never get that audio is not about the gear pieces but about how to learn to listen...
Yes must learn to listen not only to sounds which is acoustic basics but also to music,classical,jazz,world; and no, our "tastes" must be educated by ourself not by reviewers...
«I like my meal well rotten for a month , it is question of taste»-- Anonymus crocodile
Some youtubers do give useful technical information. You just need to listen to them selectively. Audiophiles are not blind. If the youtuber raves something that is not really up to expectation and misleads people to make wrong buying decision, the user feedback will show. I always take their reviews with a grain of salt, cross check them with others and couple with the demo listening (good quality one) to verify their statement. So far, I have been lucky. Except two entry-level DACs that I need to resell to upgrade to higher end products, all the purchases based on the on-line reviews and Stereophile are pretty satisfactory. Trust me, their reviews / recommendations, if quality ones, are much more informative and reliable than a few sentences' write-up from forumers.
Well for starters YouTube reviews are more about the reviewer then the equipment as always, but that’s Entertainment so it shouldn’t surprise you and hopefully not bother you. As for the equipment they choose to review, and the overwhelming positive opinions they have on products, yes they do slant mostly positive and keep them in good graces with manufacturers and garner views. Again it’s no mystery.
But yeah room treatments is a big deal, I feel that if you don’t have a treated room then it kind of defeats the purpose of what you’re doing. But then again maybe some people want the more everyday man YouTube reviewer to give them product suggestions. And again there’s reviewers who do just that.
I enjoy YouTube reviewers rather then other junk I could be watching.
The OP is flat out wrong about the better internet reviewers. Kmart gear, really? Have you seen Jay's Audio equipment? Jay has spent more on room acoustics than most magazine reviewers paid for their reference gear. I would listen to the better internet reviewers over ANY of the magazine reviewers for a few reasons.
1) When was the last time you saw a negative review of any piece of equipment in a magazine review? Never (except the for the botched Totem review done by a magazine 10-15 years ago). Why did a magazine have to add a column in their Axpona review last year that was on the worst sounding rooms? It's because a few of the internet reviewers already made those claims months earlier so they didn't want to look bad. BTW:a couple of those rooms had a couple hundred thousands of $$$ worth of equipment that this magazine just gave glowing reviews on the month before.
2) Most magazine reviewers rooms are terrible, no acoustic treatment, no special speaker positioning because of tight quarters, and even 1 magazine reviewers positioned the equipment in the corner because of space issues. Most don't even have dedicated rooms.
3) The OP claims the YT reviewers get paid for each review. Really, you know that for a fact? Can you say the same about a magazine review? How about selling ad space? How about giving the reviewer huge discounts for the gear if they want to purchase it? Aren't these incentives? Would a manufacturer keep buying ad space if they keep getting negative reviews? Maybe their is a coincidence why there are no negative reviews.
In all other magazine reviews of other products: cars, stoves, refrigerators, you name it, there is only 1 product that is the best, the others come in 2nd, 3rd, on down. Never will you see this in a magazine review. What ever product they are reviewing, its the best of the best.
The difference is that they have their own ears , not yours; and they must sell in a way or in another...Generally they sell new offers on the market... They dont compare with the past, even to recent past...For most all is progress...
Some are better than others...
The problem is reviewers spoke for all of us indistinctly...And no one here is on the same place in his audio journey.....The reviewers cannot know about your needs; you must learn to identify your real needs...
it is generally better to read articles than listening reviewers to do this...
At the end of the road we dont need reviewers...At the begining of the road i am not sure we need reviewers...We need to read ...When i had listened reviewers i had been put aside and i regret all i bought ( many dac , many amplifier and many speakers and many headphones 😊 ) ...I begin to understand by reading about acoustic basic... And i read about some vintage mythical products, it is better to buy a myth with a ton of reviews and advices, than to buy a new product which will be forgotten soon ...
Reviewers may be entertaining and can give good suggestions for sure... But you must listen to yourself reading with open mind about the past products not only the new one...Past products can be vintage but they can be product of ten years ago ...
There is a revolution now in audio for example in the last 15 years , how many reviewers youtube spoke about it ? Very , very few...
Guess what it is ?
How many revolutions there is in audio in the last 15 years and which one ?
😊
No it is not a mere new dac like all the others more or less ....
Most of the YouTubers I've seen seem to be more about themselves than about audio. Most have to invent a crisis, controversy, or drama to have anything to talk about. And of course you can't tell what anything really sounds like while listening to YouTube, so I just ignore them.
One site I look at is ASR. I know there are many people her who dislike Amir's approach. He has a take-no-prisoners approach and doesn't seem hesitant to pan gear that doesn't meet his particular testing standards. Those standards are open to debate as far as how well good performance in a user setting corresponds to good performance on his bench or in the spinorama. Products from cherished makers have sometimes seen a skewering. I have observed that he seldom reviews something well that doesn't also perform well. His methods skewer amplifier distortion, and he declines to do testing of tube gear because of its high levels of measurable distortion, euphonious or not. I can't see a brand bias; his SINAD scale places ultra high end next to low-end unknowns at both ends of the performance scale. He seems to prefer speaker offerings by KEF, and if there is a preference, it is for neutral coloration and flat frequency response and low distortion. I have heard some of his critics dismiss him, but few are able to persuasively explain why, except that he has expressed a dislike for a reader's cherished brand or model.
I follow several reviewers regularly. Most of them indicate their particular interests and seem to tailor their sites to those interests. I wouldn't watch cheapaudioman for a review about a halo Sonos Faber floorstander, he isn't about that and doesn't pretend to be. For different reasons I like watching A British Audiophile, because I like his level, methodical, analytical and comparative format. Having good production values and a consistent pattern helps. (For YT reviews, I benchmark savagegeese because of the consistent method and high production values; it is an automotive site, not an audio site.)
It seems like the OP is posing a question with the title of the thread:
"Any Advice for those Listening to Youtube Reviewers?"
The advice I'd offer would include the following:
1. Find credible sources prior to watching influencers. The Complete Guide to High-End Audio by Harley -- even an earlier edition -- is a good start.
2. Try to determine the reviewer's credentials somehow. Biography, other publications, etc. are a good way. One popular YouTube influencer has made a lot of money claiming to talk to dead people. That's a red flag.
3. Does the reviewer like everything? If so, they are not critical and are probably being remunerated for being non-critical.
4. How long has their channel existed and do they answer criticism? Audioholics and PS Audio respond to dialog.
If they give bad products great reviews, they will soon lose many of those views/much of that money as people catch on. I watch a number of them, and maybe I'm naive, but I don't regard any of them as being shills or having started reviewing at K-Mart type of places. Perhaps we watch different reviewers. Hi-Fi magazines, on the other hand.....
Of course. Even the ones with likeable engaging personalities have vested interests in pleasing the companies who make the gear that they are loaned so that they will continue to have a steady flow of gear and followers.
That said, it's entertaining, and you can read between the lines to get some idea of what the piece is like as well as some close-up views of the piece.
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