Honesty of the Reviewers

It would appear that the role of the reviewer is as tricky as it ever was.

Either you blatantly lie and shill on the behalf of familiar dealers and manufacturers to curry favour or you risk being outcast into the wilderness.

Treading the middle ground between seller and buyer seems to be as difficult as it ever was.

The approach adopted by the likes of ASR bypasses these issues but only because of the goodwill of the members who freely send in products to be reviewed by Amir.

Just a few days ago I watched a YouTube video by the cheapaudioman in which he describes what sometimes happens if he gives a bad review.

I checked back today in the community section and found the livestream video had now been made private.

I'm guessing that someone at iFi audio wasn't too pleased with the video...

"How honest you think the reviewers are?"

it depends who pays for review! 

i just recently watched a best hifi product of the year video from Andrew Robinson and couldn't have disagreed more. Based on that, not honest at all. 

I tend to look at the review sites purely to keep tabs on new releases and also to find measurements and objective information.

Beyond that, I always put far more weight on forums and actual users who (most of the time) have nothing to gain or lose by offering honest feedback. And even better, conversing with other forum members with similar setups and preferences who are nice enough to share their thoughts on a particular component.

@grislybutter

Andrew Robinson?

That’s a little disappointing as I thought he was one of the more honest ones.

I remember a while back he did some videos on his struggles with audiophile addiction. Andrew Robinson is not only very experienced reviewer, he also seems to be one of the more open and candid ones out there.

He even goes as far as to suggest taking all reviews, including his own, as primarily entertainment value only.