It's funny....when you get down to it, most everything is either driven by either sex or money!
Look at organized sports. I can remember seeing so many "fixed" boxing and fighting matches over the years, I think I might as well have watched WWE wrestling and been done with it!
But, back on course...you're right. As one who's worked in the audio business for many years, and is intimately familiar with many of the products that are ultimately reviewed, I've had to sit back and laugh while reading some of these reviews, as you've quoted I mean YOU KNOW someone is paying HEAVY BUCKS to get some of the praise and "inflated boasts" and "ratings" that gear too often undeservedly gets! And it's always the mass marketed, highly advertised product that apears on 6 pages of some rag that get's a garanteed AAAAAAAA rating or whatever...then slowly manages to slip to class C the next two or three "components" lists and such!
Well I for one have come to expect it, and understand why this kind of thing exists. It's obvious. The industry is relatively small, and needs help from all sources if people are to make good living at this stuff. Infact, audio/video equip manufactures would have anyone picking up a components list guide to believe that sonic and visual Nirvana exists by simply buying their class such and such of product!...and it doesn't. I've heard systems on many many occasions, comprised of all "Class A rated" components sound just aweful! But then all seasoned audiophiles know that you simply can't throw gear into a system and expect wonders. Doesn't work that way. Balance, synergy, set up, acoustics, placment, tweaking, calibrating, knowledge, experience, and dedication goes LIGHT YEARS BEYOND what the average audio enthusiest ends up with, or understands what is capable! And no, the best audio/visual systems don't come from simply reading a list of recommended pieces, maybe hearing them (possibly set up wrong), then buying them online from some questionable warehouse, and sticking em in a room at home with out a clue as to what they're doing! It's no so simple.
So to me I don't mind if a review doesn't say much! I'm used to reviewers "dancing around" the specifics and generalities, or "padding" a review for whatever reasons or incentives/agenda's they might be writing from! I think it's simply "ear candy"! I mean even if it "told it like it is", what is that going to do to the oveall quality of what people end up with who read this stuff anyway? In my experience, little to nothing more than they would end up with from reading "Enquirer-Star-Globe reviews" on audio gear!
This is why I've always laughed at some of these major mag's reviewing systems. IT doesn't really do much more than provide enjoyment, and something to fantasize about! Because you still gotta end up trying this stuff to find out anyway to KNOW ANYTHING of what something does in a REAL SYSTEM, IN A REAL ROOM!
So I say LET EM MAKE THEIR MONEY, and preach there sermons, and put whatever they want in "Class whatever!" In the end, it doesn't matter..let the informed understand what's what, and what's not! The true audio experts, serious audiophiles and those "in the know", will always have better systems, better audio/visual experiences, and the ability to pass on WHAT THEY KNOW to those whom they have good relationships with.
Yep, relationships and money. The Gas prices go up a couple/few times ever year, after the news reports some oil tanker dropped a couple of barrels of crude overboard when they came port-side. Or the water and power companies decide to declare some mysterious and suden "suppy shortage", and prices go sky-ward. Hummmmmmm....I see a trend here.
Look at organized sports. I can remember seeing so many "fixed" boxing and fighting matches over the years, I think I might as well have watched WWE wrestling and been done with it!
But, back on course...you're right. As one who's worked in the audio business for many years, and is intimately familiar with many of the products that are ultimately reviewed, I've had to sit back and laugh while reading some of these reviews, as you've quoted I mean YOU KNOW someone is paying HEAVY BUCKS to get some of the praise and "inflated boasts" and "ratings" that gear too often undeservedly gets! And it's always the mass marketed, highly advertised product that apears on 6 pages of some rag that get's a garanteed AAAAAAAA rating or whatever...then slowly manages to slip to class C the next two or three "components" lists and such!
Well I for one have come to expect it, and understand why this kind of thing exists. It's obvious. The industry is relatively small, and needs help from all sources if people are to make good living at this stuff. Infact, audio/video equip manufactures would have anyone picking up a components list guide to believe that sonic and visual Nirvana exists by simply buying their class such and such of product!...and it doesn't. I've heard systems on many many occasions, comprised of all "Class A rated" components sound just aweful! But then all seasoned audiophiles know that you simply can't throw gear into a system and expect wonders. Doesn't work that way. Balance, synergy, set up, acoustics, placment, tweaking, calibrating, knowledge, experience, and dedication goes LIGHT YEARS BEYOND what the average audio enthusiest ends up with, or understands what is capable! And no, the best audio/visual systems don't come from simply reading a list of recommended pieces, maybe hearing them (possibly set up wrong), then buying them online from some questionable warehouse, and sticking em in a room at home with out a clue as to what they're doing! It's no so simple.
So to me I don't mind if a review doesn't say much! I'm used to reviewers "dancing around" the specifics and generalities, or "padding" a review for whatever reasons or incentives/agenda's they might be writing from! I think it's simply "ear candy"! I mean even if it "told it like it is", what is that going to do to the oveall quality of what people end up with who read this stuff anyway? In my experience, little to nothing more than they would end up with from reading "Enquirer-Star-Globe reviews" on audio gear!
This is why I've always laughed at some of these major mag's reviewing systems. IT doesn't really do much more than provide enjoyment, and something to fantasize about! Because you still gotta end up trying this stuff to find out anyway to KNOW ANYTHING of what something does in a REAL SYSTEM, IN A REAL ROOM!
So I say LET EM MAKE THEIR MONEY, and preach there sermons, and put whatever they want in "Class whatever!" In the end, it doesn't matter..let the informed understand what's what, and what's not! The true audio experts, serious audiophiles and those "in the know", will always have better systems, better audio/visual experiences, and the ability to pass on WHAT THEY KNOW to those whom they have good relationships with.
Yep, relationships and money. The Gas prices go up a couple/few times ever year, after the news reports some oil tanker dropped a couple of barrels of crude overboard when they came port-side. Or the water and power companies decide to declare some mysterious and suden "suppy shortage", and prices go sky-ward. Hummmmmmm....I see a trend here.