Honesty of the Reviewers

"How honest you think the reviewers are?"

it depends who pays for review! 

i just recently watched a best hifi product of the year video from Andrew Robinson and couldn't have disagreed more. Based on that, not honest at all. 

I tend to look at the review sites purely to keep tabs on new releases and also to find measurements and objective information.

Beyond that, I always put far more weight on forums and actual users who (most of the time) have nothing to gain or lose by offering honest feedback. And even better, conversing with other forum members with similar setups and preferences who are nice enough to share their thoughts on a particular component.

@grislybutter

Andrew Robinson?

That’s a little disappointing as I thought he was one of the more honest ones.

I remember a while back he did some videos on his struggles with audiophile addiction. Andrew Robinson is not only very experienced reviewer, he also seems to be one of the more open and candid ones out there.

He even goes as far as to suggest taking all reviews, including his own, as primarily entertainment value only.

I cannot believe what I'm reading.  If any of you Audiophiles really desired honesty in reviews / reviewers, you would not have destroyed Julian Hirsch and Stereo Review.

All it takes to be a reviewer these days is to ask, what is the MSRP?  The higher the MSRP, the mo' better it must be.  Also, knowing a few nonsensical words to describe things helps.

My favorite, "it's a nice well rounded amplifier, but it's not built for anger."  (what hifi)

Cheers