Reviewing the Reviewers - and the decline of HiFi


I know that Arthur Salvatore has an ongoing tirade with Michael Fremer, and whilst I don't wholly share his views so far as Fremer is concerned, I support the sentiment that reviewers themselves ought to be themselves reviewed.
I say this after having read another 6Moons review that basically says that the item they have reviewed is the best thing since sliced bread. With the exception of HiFi news - and that was about 7 years ago, and HiFi Critic (which is regrettably not distributed very widely as yet)- none of the magazines ever criticize products.
This may well explain why the industry is in such decline. Let's face it in the United States Breitling made more than the whole of the US HiFi industry put together! Think I am mad? Well think on this cars sell, and continue to sell well. New cars are by and large a luxury, because we can recycle old cars, but we convince ourselves on their necessity. Car reviewers are unfettered by the need to give wet reviews. The buying customers are therefore not forced to listen through the BS of a review to get some real and genuine information.
Manufacturers also have to wake up and not be so hypersensitive of any genuine comparative criticism - it leads to product improvement. The reviewing industry should get out of the habit of expecting 5 star reviews when they lend equipment to magazines for 'extended periods'. let's face it - most people see hifi and music as coming out of white ear buds, computers, and mobile phones.
lohanimal

Showing 1 response by electroslacker

If you're writing for enthusiasts, then a) you better be enthusiastic, and b) you better create voyeauristic experiences with unattainable objects. Otherwise your audience will choose a different purveyor.

The audio press supports the illusion that there is a vector towards better and better that is moving far faster than actuality, which feeds the underlying consumerism that supports the industry, but after fifty years of variation on a theme it is far more likely that these are mostly just variations in subtle differences. There will be a next AR preamp, heralded with rave reviews of 'better' and calls to consume it, but it is unlikely to be better than all that have preceded it.