In this month's Absolute Sound, Robert Harley responds to a letter writer with an explanation that sums up the review process very well. Anyone interested should give it a read, but essentially, a review is one persons opinion of a product heard at a certain time in a certain place with certain associated equipment and should only be used as a starting place, if at all, to narrow candidates for further investigation. He went on to say that he felt that the hi end audio press puts too much emphasis on reviews of equipment and that the only advantage to a professional review is perhaps the ability to form proper sentences, more exposure to different equipment, and the time to spend with a particular unit.
Anyone can do it, given enough dedication, but thats true of anything. I could probably pole vault if I tried hard and long enough. But being good at anything takes more than effort, it takes talent, whether its being a good writer, or a good listener.
