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Honest Amp Reviews: Impossible?

So, I’ve noticed a flood of class D junk hitting the market over the last several years. They come from many different brand names from people you’ve never heard of before like "VTV", to popular Internet-in-the-know brands like PS Audio to famous names like Marantz. One thing they ALL have in common: the complete inability to find honest reviews online for these products.

For example, let’s take for instance the Stellar series from PS Audio. Class D junk with the usual attempt to improve euphonics with some kind of input stage. They call this scheme class AD, I guess to differentiate all the other brands that do something similar. However, you’ll never see a review site point this out; they’ll comment briefly on the design and then dutifully call it class AD afterwards as if it isn’t just a class D amp like many others.

Next, the reviewer will invariably lie about the sound. This lying usually takes the form of lying by omission. They’ll gush about how beefy and controlled it is, how neutral it is, how wide and natural the soundstage is, etc. What they WON’T mention is how lifeless, flat, boring and ultimately fatiguing they ALL are. The buyer who doesn’t know any better has to find that out for themselves while he slowly grows to distrust anything a reviewer has to say about anything. So, the only way to actually get value out of a review is to see if a certain amp has the positive attributes you are looking for while trying to painstakingly research any problems it might have because the reviewer won’t mention them.

In addition to the lies of omission, there’s the usual con of giving certain gear to certain reviewers who will appreciate / like the piece. That Stellar will NEVER be put up against a Dan D’agostino or a Pass for example. This could be valuable to the buyer to see how a lesser amp stacks up against a high end one, but it’s not, apparently, useful to the reviewers. Why? Why is telling the whole truth about amps -- all gear really -- taboo?
madavid0
melvinjames
416 posts
 
my question is why does the op read reviews if his mind is already all made up that class d as a category is sub par... reading reviews till cows come home won’t change that mindset... seems to me he is just venting and trolling...

Yes, and he's also trying to save us from ourselves. As Erik already pointed out he's posted provocative threads in the past. He's also well-known on at least one other forum under a different name. Same. Exact. Relentless. $hit. 

stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,468 posts
 
Although this isn’t about Class D, I am in agreement with the OP regarding reviews. It’s what the reviewer doesn’t say that is most important. I aired a gripe about reviewer Greg Weaver reviewing every Von Schweikert speaker allowed to TAS for reviewing. IMHO, Mr. Weaver is a VS fanboy of the entire line. I bought a pair of VS VR33 speakers 7 years ago after reading his very flattering review of them.

I was extremely disappointed in them, actually hated them, and I took a bath on them when I was finally able to sell them. Yet, Mr. Weaver gushed and gushed over them. He said it was the BEST 15K speaker for only $3400.00. He does this with every VS speaker he reviews! I will never trust any of his reviews again and after re-reading the review many times, I came to realize he omitted the most important things regarding the speaker.
madavid0 OP
214 posts
 
Yes that is exactly the sort of lying by omission and also being breathlessly positive over everything being reviewed which makes professional reviews useless. We shouldn't HAVE to read between the lines and pick apart what's not being said.

How did I develop this hatred of class D? I didn't start out that way. I developed that outlook after numerous failed experiments. There was always an excuse, always someone breathlessly extolling THIS amp was the greatest, THIS one is the real deal, THIS one will change your mind about the topology, etc. All LIES. It would have been GREAT if the reviewers had taken on the burden of explaining the serious limitations of class D and how even the best ones will be fatiguing long-term, that way I could have limited my pain being sent down wrong paths for so long. I had to learn the hard way that I'm NOT the target market for cheap cost-cut crap sold at a massive markup to people who were led to believe that they found the secret super value club when in fact were just suckered into a class D scam.

It would be GREAT if reviewers could lead off a class D review with "As my readers know, class D amps are garbage for these reasons. Today we're looking at X amp to see if it can overcome the faults of the topology has been struggling with for decades." If the manufacturers don't like having their products lumped in with "garbage", then they should consider not releasing garbage.
cd318
2,636 posts
 
"Why is telling the whole truth about amps -- all gear really -- taboo?"


Think about it. If you said all amps (ditto cables, CD players, DAC's etc) under controlled conditions sound alike, just how popular would you be amongst those who are trying to earn a living selling them?

How popular would you be with your editor?

How popular would you be amongst those who have invested large sums of money in the belief that they were paying for superior sound quality?

If you want to be popular, not to mention hold down your job, you better go with the flow. 

History shows that to be the case. Martyrs only get acknowledged in hindsight, if at all.
soix
9,784 posts
 
If you said all amps (ditto cables, CD players, DAC's etc) under controlled conditions sound alike, just how popular would you be amongst those who are trying to earn a living selling them?
Not very, but you also wouldn’t be a good reviewer if you can’t hear differences between amps, cables, etc.  If you think they all sound the same I feel truly sorry for you, and why are you even here?

And BTW, there is truth to the idea that there are mostly positive reviews because it’s mostly very good-sounding equipment that makes it to that point.  I’m not saying there aren’t bad or otherwise useless reviews out there — there certainly are, but if something’s made it to the point of being reviewed these days it’s probably gotten plenty of good buzz precisely because it sounds pretty darn good.  So it’s not really too surprising most reviews are largely positive.  
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