Example of a piece o’ crap, useless review


I’ve harped on how crappy and useless many “professional” reviews are because they lack rigor and omit critical information.  This one is from TAS that is a main offender of pumping out shallow/unsupported reviews, but most of the Euro mags among others are guilty of this too IME.  One key giveaway that a review is crap is that after reading it you still have little/no real understanding of what the piece under review actually sounds like or if it’s something you’d like to consider further.  I mean, if a review can’t accomplish those basic elements what use is it?  This review is so shallow it reads like it could’ve been written by someone who never even listened to the review sample and just made it up outta thin air.  In addition to failing on this broad level, here are some other major problems with the review:

- There is no info regarding any shortcomings of this “budget” turntable — everything is positive.  Sounds like it was perfect, ehem.

- There are no comparisons to another product in the same general price category or anything else.

- The reviewer doesn’t even share what equipment is in his reference system so we can at least infer what he may have based his impressions on.

In short, in addition to this review being so bad/useless for all the reasons stated it actually reads more like advertisement for the product than an actual unbiased review.  I can think of nothing worse to say about a review, and sadly many reviews out there are similarly awful for the same reasons.  Sorry for the rant, but especially as a former reviewer this piece of garbage pushed all my buttons and really ticked me off.  What say you?

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/sota-quasar-turntable-and-pyxi-phonostage/

soix

@lewm wrote:

Also, "I did notice that a record brush slows everything down considerably, which was a minor annoyance." That ought not to be happening with the Roadrunner/Condor/Eclipse motor system up and running. Something is off.

 

This is misconception on the part of the reviewer.  The Condor/RR corrects for speed drift over time, it cannot adjust for the amount of drag that is applied with a record brush.  All belt drive tables will have this phenomenon due to belt creep.  Even the most powerful direct drive tables will loose speed synch if enough drag is applied.  None of this should happen while the stylus is in the groove.

 

In fact, one of the techniques that the Condor uses is NOT to apply correction in the presence of "unusual" amounts of drag; if we did, the speed would suddenly shoot up when the record brush is removed and would take longer to come back down to normal.  By not applying correction, the speed will slow while the brush is applied but will quickly return to normal as soon as the brush is removed.

Really, Part Time Audiophile as an example of good reviews?  Their stated policy is to NOT publish a bad review.  The puff pieces I've read on their site goes far beyond hagiography and would make even the most shameless fan boys blush.  No measurements at all.

@phoenixengr Point well taken.  Truth be told I haven’t read PTA reviews in a while but used to like his reviews back when he was on his own, so I probably shouldn’t have included them cause I’m not very familiar with their current reviews/writing staff.  Thanks for the redirect.

I agree with the OP that the TAS review lacks substance which is a real shame as there are technical specs in the Pyxi manual as well as several frequency response and noise plots that might put a little more meat on the bones of this review.

 

  The circuit of the Pyxi was designed by Wyn Palmer and he has published a very erudite white paper about the design as well as his personal philosophy on what makes a good phono stage and the science of psycho-acoustics.  It leans more technical than the review but is still a good read for anyone interested in the subject (the paper is about the Acrux phono stage which has not gone into production but is closely related to the Pyxi in design and execution):

 

Wyn Palmer White Paper

Phoenix, On your comment about my comment that the record brush should not slow down the TT speed, I think when I wrote that I was interpreting the reviewer to mean that he uses a brush that rides the LP on its own "arm", as the LP plays. There are some products like that, some of which claim to remove static charge along the way. I would expect the Eclipse ensemble to overcome that level of constant drag. But I do agree, and do experience, that a record brush can slow down my Phoenix/Roadrunner-powered Lenco, when I momentarily apply pressure to remove dust from an LP surface prior to play. When the brush is removed, the system equilibrates back to set speed within a few revolutions of the platter.