You tube hifi influencers. Love them or hate them?


Not sure if I posted this in the right place but here goes. I've been an audiophile for over 50 years. Way back in the day, brick and mortar stores allowed for extensive auditioning and experienced reviewers  from the few established audio magazines gave fairly honest reviews of equipment. Now there is an army of tube influencers and online reviewers with varying degrees of experience/bias praising  their flavour of the month components that dominate the scene. What's a new audiophile to do? I trust the opinions of members of various forums more so than any of these influencers except for perhaps "The Audiophiliac", Guttenberg. How do you feel?

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I do not watch You Tube videos of equipment reviews done by an influencer.  I don't trust them, and they always have their own agenda.  Just who are they influencing and why would anyone listen to these people?  They are going for likes & money, nothing more.

I far prefer written text, so I can pore over it, scrutinize it, go back and re-read; I find talking head videos abysmal at conveying information, especially when done improvisationally and off the cuff. Lot of wasted time for me. I can quickly scan a written article in minutes or less to see if it is relevant. Videos are cumbersome in that respect. 

I get that the current generation relies on YT for all kinds of things. It may make sense with a repair issue, where, for example, the narrator guides you through steps and the visuals of a disassembly are shown. But for opinion and listening it  is usually a non-starter for me. 

I agree with most of the opinions here. Some of the British reviewers are quite good--I like them better than some of the ones over here. I really despise the reviewers who claim they have found their 'end system' only to review new components a month later. I can't give any credibility to that.

While some reviewers speak the truth, they cannot be 100% trusted because at the end of the day only your own system, room and ears can properly judge a new piece of equipment, regardless of what they say or their experience level.

I may watch occasional reviews. Not to get an opinion of how something sounds, but to learn about the features of a product that I may be interested in.  

I use my own intelligence, experience and ears (period).