The "how many reviews it got" rule


This is my rule of thump when I purchase components online
without having heard them first.  If a component received a
lot of reviews, chances are the component is very good.
I mean the component has to be good to attract a lot of
reviewers. Most reviewers probably wouldn’t
bother to review something he doesn’t like in the first place.
andy2
This is similar to movie box office take , the numbers really have nothing to do with how actually good said movie is though to me it’s usually a sign of a lot of people got caught up in the hype and paid to see a very mediocre movie .
if you make your buying decisions on main stream industry hype and online hysteria you will never get off the merry go round .
I’m not sure it works like that for the most part. Big distribution budgets and magazine advertising play a role in visibility. Ever notice how almost every review is a good one?
My take on this is that most equipment is pretty good these days BUT it's the synergy that is more important. Also as my dealer always tells me the room plays more into the sound than one thinks or wants to admit.
I'm not sure the "review business" is the same as it was in the 1980's.  Back then I worked in the high-end audio business and met some reviewers who told me that the way this game works is, the reviewer is shipped an item and if they were favorable in their reviews, were asked not to ship the item back, but to "purchase" it for a tiny fraction of the retail value.  One of the reviewers I met back then said he made a "pretty penny" flipping equipment he'd reviewed.