Audio reviews: too many analogies, never simple, but most of all, never clear.

I am so glad that you started this thread hiendmmoe! I discovered a reviewer on enjoythemusic.com; Jules Coleman, who is absolutely over the top with just what you are talking about.

I guarantee that you will not believe how long it takes him to start talking about the product; in this case Sonus Faber speakers. He runs on about boring nonsense that is nothing that you don’t already know, and when he finally gets to the review, that’s bad too! It is hard to believe that the editors would accept his reviews...and there are more than one.

www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0420/Sonus_Faber_Il_Cremonese_Floorstanding_Loudspeake...

I wrote reviews for a living for close to forty years and, yes, like a bunch of you I just can’t help but lose my emotional equilibrium when a review doesn’t meet my august criteria. Trouble is, whenever I turn up the steereo to mellow out, my wife bangs on the door with a sledgehammer.

Miller Carbon, I do believe I just learned something about journalism by reading your post.  Thank you for that, it explains a lot about the current state of affairs in the poor excuse for journalism that exists today.  I am sick and tired of ideologies and agendas being pushed instead of the truth.

For the subject at hand, sometimes I enjoy the scenic route, as long as they get to the point eventually.  Other times I want "just the facts, ma'm", and I scan through to the bottom line.  Sometimes I can tell when the reviewer is damning with faint praise.  Sometimes I can't find much value in the review, but I always want some measurements, putting the item on the test bench.

But when it comes to reviews, I just can't get that worked up about it.

Audio reviews chew more than they bite off.  Their taste in music is prosaic at best.

couldn't agree more with millercarbon and hiendmmoe.  The reviewers are often self-indulgent to a fault (similar to the media where now they,re the news rather than what they're reporting).  I subscribe to the two mainstream audiophile publications as they,re relatively inexpensive (TAS and stereophile) but I,m usually disappointed by the choice of components being reviewed.  75% of the components reviewed represent stuff I can't buy in this lifetime ( or any other).  The other 15% - 20% are budget components which are there as tokens and little more to keep people from constantly complaining about exclusively reviewing exorbitant components.  Virtually nothing in the middle ground.  What about taking a different tact and instead of reviewing amps costing 6 figures only review it ifs providing a exceptional sonic breakthrough that has to be heard to be believed. This would eliminate 90 to 95% of the mega buck components but it would be so much better for the average audiophile.