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When a Reviewer "likes" something

... what does that mean in your opinion. I read in one of the last Stereophile mags a comment from Mr. Atkinson where he wrote about the differences in "opinions" in forums or in printed mags. After all he ended with the argument, a component is good when a reviewer likes it.
Isn't is more helpful, when a reviewer knows something about a real tone reproduction? Or is it ok, when he used every month another CD or LP he got for free, a kind of music nearly no one wants to listen to?
Harry Pearson used in the 90's always the same records for his reviews but that was an exception I think.
What is it worth for you when - for example - Mr. Dudley/Fremer/Valin/HP .... "likes" something? Do you have the same "taste" they have?
I know it is possible to like a Turntable even when that unit can't hold the proper speed, or is extremely sensitive to any influences, there are endless recommendations written about such units...what is it worth for you?
Atkinson for example measures units, some have top datas but they can sound very boring, far away from the real thing, some have no top datas, some "tests" are shortened because a unit can reach a area which can be pretty dangerous (see one of the latest Agostino units, just as an example) but they are rated Class A in recommendations anyway....
When someone "knows" what is right or not, then his "liking" is only a personal opinion which is more or less uninteresting or?
Most customers (not all of course) would prefer to know what a unit is really able to do sonically, or not? Would knowledge destroy the joy of Hardware rolling? Or is there a reason why reviewers use low efficiency speakers when they have a tube amp for review (for example Lamm ML2.1/ML2.2 with Magico Speakers)? Is the matching "expensive + expensive" the proper way to show competence?
128x128syntax
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,563 posts
 
A mainstream press review would be very entertaining, kinda like a good pro wrestling match, but I suspect RR would get powerbombed by the evil AHEE in the end, regardless of product's merit.
syntax's avatar
syntax OP
2,193 posts
 
10 years (!) ago one of my friends asked me about my opinion because he thought about starting a High End Audio shop. And only with real good sounding components, some which really moved something (he had good knowledge and the money for it). I said, that he will fail when doing it. The customers today (Y2K) are no more the same from 1980, today you will only survive with a pocket calculator, people want review winners, will catch your time and will look in the internet where they can get it cheaper. But that was only my opinion so I asked a well known professional reviewer about the way to go with such products (he has 2 opinions, one for business and one for his own) and his final comment was "Syntax, when your buddy really cares for sound, he will fail"
He was right, all my good dealers are out of business, very sad...
wolf_garcia
6,740 posts
 
Good dealers. Really. I think the issue with high end shops is they refuse to engage the public with any creative energy. Almost NO effort is put into actual music (very interesting musicians are available to play at their shops...for promotion only in many cases, or they could charge a small cover), seminars for gear heads, promoting and sponsoring concerts...they simply don't do these things, they don't care...they're LAME. They cater to their small world of the already converted, whine when they lose a sale to the internet, and pretty much get back exactly what they put into it. A nearby VERY high end place doesn't use a computerized mailing list to let you know about the rare occasions when they actually have a gear rep coming around, and one of their sales dudes once expressed how he hates the "audio societies" members as they're too opinionated or something. They also are often utterly clueless about local shows featuring world class musicians. Don't care, don't know...and they will remain that way as that's how it's always been.
syntax's avatar
syntax OP
2,193 posts
 
Harry Pearson 2013:

Ironically, I had sold the magazine to save it, from my ineptitude in business manipulations, to someone accomplished in such matters and someone whom I presumed I could trust to put the love of music ahead of the love of considerable profits. In return, I was to put out a first class magazine that continued to define the art of high fidelity.
I was told I would still be in complete editorial control. But I was not. I had been replaced by those who had turned my magazine into something I would not subscribe to....

The Absolute Sound was no longer what I had dreamed it would be: A magazine about the love of music and the highway to an appreciation of the real thing. But the highways, the audio equipment, had become more important then the real thing, and had become an end in themselves.

Understand I have nothing against TAS. But it no longer seems to adhere to the principles for which I founded it: Namely, to promote music as the goal of all audio equipment. The audio gear is a highway that can lead to the music, not an end in and of itself. I also have nothing against advertising per se, just against its use in exchange for favorable reviews. And one thing as controlling editor for TAS, I had always refused to do, was arrange swaps of reviews for advertising.

... we decided to go at it online, and named it HP Soundings. I knew I had the reputation, based on long-time credibility. I knew I had the right partner in Mr. Weiss. I knew we shared the same philosophy to carry it on; that of the love of music itself. I believed then, as now, that the music needed me, but not, perhaps, as much as the other way around.


Well, what can I say?

Never read anything better and honest in the last 10 years.

Kudos Harry
singleendedsingle
664 posts
 
Sad news indeed.
I think the main goal of audio magazines and websites is to
create product awareness.

But we need to hear to believe what they say.
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