Some people may be newer viewers to his channel than you are.
Darko Audio: Let's End the Cost Videos
Ok, I have complete respect for John Darko and the amount of work and professionalism he invests in his craft. But if I see another video or comment where he brings up "It's one's right to spend what one sees fit on gear, etc," I am going to scream. Yes, WE GET IT, John! No need to keep kicking this horse, which has been dead for literally 3 years.
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@larsman + 1 I am not a big fan of Darko's articles. I am tired of his passive aggressive rants. The quality of his videos is usually superb though. For me. he lacks substance and depth, he just doesn't appear to be all that knowledgeable. What I find very useful is his reports/announcements on new products. |
@ericrhodes1 I am not sure who his target audience is. It is probably close to Andrew Robinson’s. He is an entertainer.. Budget-wise I am his target audience, with my limited funds. And yes, as @hilde45 said, he has a schtick. He is likeable, relatable, personable. He is also a giant at 6’7" which makes him vulnerable, the way he handles it... The weird part is his podcasts. He is good at talking to the camera. He is pretty bad at interacting with people. He talks over them. I guess interviewing is a skill. |
I gained respect for Darko when he started doing deep dives on acoustic treatments. That seemed a bit too tied in with a company for my liking, but he was at least getting into actual, critical details of what contributes to the character of audio gear. Andrew Robinson is a whole another level of (worse) superficiality. His constant dialogue with his wife (who, no offense) rarely has anything informed to say. She represents the "average spouse" or "everyday person" who has "common sense" about what they’re hearing or seeing. But this just makes her opinion uselessly idiosyncratic for audiophile purposes (though perhaps not for relationship purposes). Robinson has also ridiculed paying attention to the parts inside products and also has paid virtually no attention to room acoustics. He seems to be hopelessly schizophrenic between appealing to subscribers to Interior Decorator magazine and audio fans. (My guess is that he and his partner/wife look very closely at YouTube analytics to see what they should do more or less of. They’re out to get clicks (um, I mean $$) and so that’s their thing. Nothing inherently wrong with this as a business; the problem gets enjoined when they are taken as sources of knowledge about audio. Then, we have a kind of mis- or disinformation problem. And that’s raises the ethical antennae.) |
@hilde45 - I find both Darko and Robinson somewhat entertaining (some of the time), but I get more useful information from Darko.... |
@hilde45 Robinson is also a thin-skinned bully, I would not want to sit next to on a plane, train or automobile. I have probably watched 25 or so videos of his and learnt nothing. But he is successful, so what do I know..... |
Both of these guys are new to me. I watched a few videos from each and you can keep them both. Funny how some of these Youtube experts make me yearn for the top tier reviewers who I dont think have much to add either. I strongly suggest no of you listen to either for advice. Entertainment is not the purpose of such videos. |
I'd take A British Audiophile or Hans Beekhuyzen any day of the week, instead. I like Sean at Zero Fidelity, too. I used to like Jay of Jay's Iyagi but he's turned very much to clickbait titles and a bit of plumping for audio stuff that has turned me off. |
You do realize Jay Iyagi is a kid, right? I doubt he had even turned 20 when he started his channel. Here's an old video where he's trying to articulate the difference in sound signatures of 2 speakers...not bad for a kid actually. I used to have a double impact sometime ago ( know what he's trying to get at). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EdKt_NV_po Jay Iyagi and that Zero Fidelity dude are the guys i trust, when they're trying to articulate/describe the sound signature of something....and yeah, if some kid wants to clickbait a bit, i'll forgive him, whatever... There are some other reviewer clowns who try to describe the sound of an amp, but, essentially he's describing the sound of a speaker, yada yada...you'd be lost if you listened to some chaos clowns.
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@zarf New Record Day is smart and original but has little value, somehow he is not that informative. If I compiled a list of reviews to watch, he'd always be a runner up for gear X. |
Personally, I’ve always enjoyed Johnny Darko’s audio reviews. Afterall, at the end of the day this is about entertainment. Growing up in the 1960’s our entertainment came from Television and Radio. In those days all signals were broadcast through the air to the receiver in your television or radio. There were only 7 TV stations to choose from: three network, three independent and one public station. And a few dozen radio stations to choose from on either the AM or FM bands. So the media had a much greater impact on the public because you had to watch or listen to one of these stations which had much larger audiences in those days. Today these stations still exist, but have been largely displaced by Internet TV and radio as well as satellite based programming. As such, the mainstream media pie has been sliced so thin that it no longer has the impact that it once did. Today, anyone with an Internet connection and an iPhone can become a media personality. And those with talent can grow their viewership into millions of subscribers while having a major influence on their daily lives. Perhaps YouTube is the best example of providing a venue for this. As the late Aldous Huxley once wrote: "It is a brave new world."
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If you can speak Spanish, Padro is one of my favorite reviewers on YOUTUBE! Some of his reviews are in English. I also like Sean from ZERO FIDELITY! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfnn_U5EsHmwnb7EdJug4Yg/videos |
Um, I believe he's well into his 20's and is a graduate student at least after having spent years learning in high end audio shop. So, that's not a "kid" in my book, in terms of chronological age, education, or experience in audio. So your point has gone missing for me... |
A student in North America starts grad school around age 22 (if going right into it after 4-ish years of undergrad). Guy wouldn’t have turned 20 yet when his channel started 6 or 7 years ago. Maybe he got hired on to move boxes at the high end audio store as a young whippersnapper. I briefly ran into/was talking to his buddy at a show...the Indian guy who shows up on some of his videos a few years ago.
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So... almost 5 years ago he went to graduate school. He was probably around 22 then. That would make him about 27-ish now (at least), with years of experience in high end sales and a masters degee in the field. Let's just agree to disagree. You call him a "kid" and I will call him a young professional. |
@audition__audio - in one respect, my ability to listen is nowhere near as good as when I first started, as my hearing has deteriorated over more than 2 to 3 decades. I can hear more details and such better with better gear, but I don't consider that as having anything to do with my 'ability to listen', though I'm not sure just what that means. |
Well for me it is just the opposite. I have always maintained that you ability to listen is heavily influenced by the very best systems you have heard. The more exceptional systems, the higher your level of awareness. Yes you are correct about the deteriorating hearing, but I think experience trumps frequency limits. |
@limomangus Darko is 6'7" |