What reviews do you trust if any?

Have you seen some of the pics of the reviewers listening areas? Some look like they live in a broom closet in their mom's basement.

Art Dudley , Bob Reina , John Atkinson , are the ones I trust . Why ? There not always shootin off at the lips .

There are magazines and online sites, and forums like Audiogon I like. As people have said before, I use them as starting off points, for items I would look for and pay more attention to at a show.

I have to say, I particularly like HiFi+, stereo mojo and Positive Feedback. 6 moons I just find too verbose, I lose interest half way down the 5th page.

Two recent examples of what I picked up, the first the Audio Research Ref 75 Power Amp, I listened to at a recent show. All the hype seemed amply justified. Secondly, the Gigawatt line of power conditioners, I have'nt had time to look out for yet.

I like 6Moons too. I also have liked (and still do) Tony Cordesman's articles for years in various publications.

you can trust a reviewer if his statements are truthful.

this requires some faith that he is accurately reporting his (aural) observations.

i don't think its fair to consider motivation. if the reviewer
does not misrepresent his perceptions he can be trusted.

the problem is verification of a reviewer's comments. it's almost impossible to verify what a reviewer says. many explanations have been furnished for mistrusting a reviewer. however, i would say some reviewers are not liars.

even if you listen to a component which has been reviewed and agree with what the reviewer says, you have not corroborated the review.

in view of the amorphous nature of reviews, if you trust the character of the reviewer, a review serves as a guide to consider the product reviewed.

i would suggest reading the review carefully and critically evaluating the form and style of the review. if the review reads like ornate prose, it may be a dubious review. if instead, the review sounds like ordinary usage, as if you were talking to the reviewer, you have a chance that the review should be taken seriously.