Thoughts about the "Cheapaudioman" on YouTube

I watch a lot of these YouTube "reviewers" and I've been watching his channel for probably over 2 years now. I enjoy his content and he's come a long way. I would say before you completely dismiss him as garbage you should see what he's about and where he's coming from.

I think his attraction to most people is his regular guy approach and good humor. I don't think he ever really set out to be some huge YouTube guy but came up with this Cheapman channel after he bought his first high dollar piece of gear. I believe it was a well reviewed $5k integrated by SimAudio/Moon Audio. It turned out(to his ears) to sound no better or even worse than some cheaper components he had owned. He was pissed, and came up with the idea to find and talk about pieces of gear under that 1k mark or so that provided good performance and value. 

I personally don't feel he pushes any equipment, just gives his opinion on stuff. Once you figure out what type of sound he likes people should take that into account if they are interested in something he likes. For example, I think he likes a lot of treble, some of those speakers he likes are too hot for my taste. He's not a fan of measurements, so all of his opinions are off of his ears and what he likes, you can tell he's really not concerned about how others have rated or reviewed something. He definitely caters to people on a very low budget. Although there is only so much low budget gear that is even half decent so he's ventured out into more expensive products here and there. Since he's become more well know a lot of company's have sent him higher quality gear, although I don't think Buchardt were very happy with his assessment of them. He didn't drool all over them like some other reviewers lol.

I think he has a place in the audiophile landscape. As others in this chat have alluded to is that there are some great sounding pieces of gear for what I consider cheap prices. It has not always been like this. Its a good time to get into hifi if someone is young or doesn't have the big funds due to whatever in life. In the cheaper priced market is where one can really get ripped off and come across a lot of junk..and if you are new to this hobby or a first time buyer you don't even know what you are looking for. For this fact I think someone like Cheap Audio Man can really help. Just my opinion anyway. 

There are so many people trying to get a foothold on a large enough audience on YouTube for income from ads, and partnerships and just asking all the time for money like Randy.  Helpful? He looks more like someone who just sees what's available on Amazon and doesn't spend much time outside that searching for what he assumes, thinks are the best deals.   He has an audience so obviously, people do connect with him.  And I guess respect him for that.

His review of the sony ss-cs5 speakers was spot on.

I bought those and very quickly returned. They were very bright and thin…brittle sounding. They sounded to me like a cheap speaker with two tweeters. I paid $88 but felt they were worth $50 as they weren’t nearly as good as my sons Dayton Audio speakers.

I like the coffee

This is like asking is MQA good or not.

Re. @curtdr and @pedroeb comments... anyone who thinks Mr. Amir isn't  "... irrelevant opinionated egotistical jackass garbage." (and there's no need for this kind of commentary in the audiophile world imo), is self exposing. Amir is entitled to his pontificating and if you like him, great. 

1. Randy has a lane. While I fast forward his intros (annoying music and intro fodder) and only watch a some of his reviews. (I am not a Paetron of his. I am of a couple of others whose reviews fall more inline with my interests.) 

2. I had an application / location where I didn't want to spend a lot of money. Between Randy, Zeos, and others, I learned about Fosi amps and Jamo S 803 speakers. Pretty impressive for background music and I spent less than $350.00 and am very happy with them. Randy discussed the Fosi amps that got me looking. 

3. It's basically still a free country and you can choose what you watch, read, etc. 

4. I've only been nosing around these forums for the past 2 years. The outliers and know-it-all folks can be ignored.

5. Randy occasionally reviews some higher end equipment.

6. Re. YouTube reviewers, I appreciate Hans Beekhuyzen, "Z reviews" (mainly headphone gear), John Darko, Currawong, & Josh Valour to mention a few. All have their lane. 

As Han's always concludes his videos, "and whatever you do, enjoy the music!"