Publications and websites for equipment reviews

I gave up on mags and online reports and started to listen for my self.

By far the best way to go. 

I got super lucky very early on when I became friends with the best dealer I ever met. Thanks to this I was able to audition a huge range of gear the best way possible, at home in my own system. Plus then a ton more at his place. Then because you can never be too careful I also went around to all the stereo shops up and down the I5 corridor from Portland to north of Seattle.

Unfortunately even with all of that it still only covers a fraction of what's out there. Hardly any of us has the time or connections to do it even if we wanted. And even then a lot of the really good stuff is so niche market its hard to even find out about it, let alone experience first hand, and so one way or another reviews are almost a must-have.

So you always have to read between the lines. Always pay attention to any words of criticism however faint they may be.

Bingo.

Some sources you have to take with an understanding that they gotta advertise for their clients. User reviews are best for me. Take it all into consideration though. 

it's the reviewer that matters if he is close to you in taste you should listen to him.so first you have to understand what he likes. you can tell by looking at his reference gear or the tracks that he uses. than if he is not biased (big magazines are always suspect )everything he says comes to the right context. john darko shows what music he listens to and it's not the usual geeky "audiophile"stuff . metal571 is a great reviewer but he likes flat headphones so he can drastically eq them to death. he loves the hd 800 which has harsh highs and no bass(best suited for classical music) and hates the nighthawks while most of the other reviewers (zeus guttenberg darko and many more)love them and hate the 800. if they say "fast and detailed bass" it means no bass if they say "warm" you have to know compared to what? generally comparisons are the best (amp a has more bass than amp b!).sometimes i read a buyer's remark on amazon and it's better than an hour of video review...