You tube hifi influencers. Love them or hate them?

@chenry

I think it pays to have an open mind about "influencers." In this hobby, the numbers of brands, the flood of new products, the relatively fewer shops that carry any audio gear pretty much require a willingness to explore the web for information.

This is exactly right. And can people honestly tell me that their experiences with brick/mortar stores were not a mix of pressure/BS and honest assistance? Every store I ever visited has had an intense motive to sell the gear they chose and to discount or have no opinions about other gear. Of course they need to stay in business -- and that’s totally part of the game. But often they are not good people to look to for objectivity. YouTube and magazine have some advantages, there.

@cleeds

Most of the Youtubers seem to rely on drama, manufactured conflict and artificial "excitement" to create clicks. They’re easy to ignore.

Not my experience. In my opinion, this is a misuse of the word "most." There are quite a few which do not rely on drama:

• Currawong
• Passion for Sound
• Tarun a British Audiophile
• Hans Beekhuyzen
• Darko
• Ken Micallef
• Joshua Valour
• Pearl Acoustics
• Zero Fidelity

I listen to multiple reviews and put more weight on the reviewer who seems more reliable.    Consider this review of the Borrenson x3 speaker.   The absolute Sound reviewer says you have to “crank it up” to get the speaker to sound its best.

Whereas The Audiophiliac says just the opposite.  

The only one I remotely trust is Tarun, A British Audiophile. All the others I take with a grain of salt.

I don't hate or love any of them. If they're talking about something of interest to me, I'll generally watch, and if not, I generally don't. Same with vinyl community or any other channels.

And I don't 'trust' any of them more or less than I would somebody commenting on a forum; it's not like people on forums never have agendas. 

Steve Guttenberg is the Larry David of audio. All others I hate.