What's the point of reviewing?

@skyscraper

I completely agree. Even though I take user's comments with a very large grain of salt, they are valuable because they represent a base of actual experience in different systems. I enjoy reading and commenting about this hobby which is why I put up with the disturbing amount of trash talk and drivel on this and other forums to ferret out the good stuff. Sometimes owners will actually post a cogent comment about their own experience with a piece of gear that can be very helpful. For example, the comments from a few users who own the Jay’s Audio CDT3 plus the review in Stereophile & a couple of YouTube reviews made me a buyer (it’s arriving today!). It was reassuring to hear firsthand experience that confirms the quality of this unit. But this is a perfect example of buying a piece of gear that I can’t demo.

recklesskelly & mahler123 - If you read the audio magazines carefully you will see that indeed, a few major advertisers get bad reviews. PS Audio and B&W are two notable examples.

@skyscraper

8th-note, the one thing you’re more likely to get from Audiogon and other sites forum members is honesty about the shortcomings of various products.

Site members will often point out shortcomings of a product that many professional reviewers are loathe to bluntly address.

To the point!

I recall a while back when I needed to replace my car tyre inflator. I read several professional reviews and was disappointed to find that none of them mentioned one huge drawback of most of their recommendations.

Namely that those with a screw on type connector were not only incredibly fiddly to use (risk of thread stripping etc) but in the time it took to remove the connector there would also be a significant loss of tyre pressure too.

I couldn't help but think that either these reviews had been bought or else that the 'reviewers' had simply been echoing each others opinions without testing these devices themselves.

Perhaps some of those old stories were true?

Perhaps some 'talented' reviewers are actually able to review products without feeling the need to unbox them first?

I found when shopping for speakers a while back the then newish Magico A3’s had many glowing reviews from professional reviewers. On the other hand there were significantly more criticisms on audio forums, including here, from members who had listened to them at shows or dealerships.

The sometimes harsh criticisms provided things to listen for and evaluate at demos. I eventually did select the Magicos, but am glad to have been able to weigh in the negative inputs on both the A3’s, and the other speakers on my short list, and not overlook aspects of their performance that might be potentially annoying over the long run.

Mike

Magico are extremely accurate and fast speakers. Almost every setting I have heard them has either had less than ideal electronics or a room that was not ideal and they sounded terrible. You get speakers of this high a quality and you need an appropriate room and carefully chosen electronics of they may sound terrible. But under the right conditions they are among the very best. They are unforgiving.

to me magico’s are the modern day watt puppy 3/2

technical tour de force that unfortunately misses the boat in delivering enduring listening pleasure