Do you trust reviews?

auditioning is for wimps - i tend to buy stuff I like the look of.

 

Well naturally I trust Jason Hector implicitly.

but on the whole reviews can only be at best a guide, a starting point. It helps to know the tastes of the writer and the context of the review. At worst they are useless or totally misleading. What ? hi-fi? is probably the worst offender at writing meaningless drivel without any context or supporting argument. The reliance on a star system is totally useless. The number of people who I've met who base their opinions on those stars with out hearing the kit is frightening.

Best place for meaningful if biased views are the fora.

 

I just wanted to generalize the question. What somebody believes or not when reading / hearing something that somebody he doesn't know has no much relation to the subject (in this case HiFi). I think the process of believing something, is mostly subconscious. Mostly one believes in something that for one reason or the other one wants / needs to believe in.
I think the way our brain is working is much more complex than we think it is.

 

With most magazines - not just hi-fi mags - you are paying for a selection of press releases.
Some of the reviews are laughable, especially What Hi-Fi. The love affair WHF has with Cyrus as well as other major brands is staggering. It seems Cyrus et al can do no wrong but on demonsration they sound average amongst their peers. It comes back to one opinion differing from another but you have to wonder if the kit that makes it to the magazines is the same kit that we buy in the shops.

 

Another vote for Paul Messenger.

 

Why buy magazines when you can find more reliable information on forums like this?

 

The information you get from forums is still biased. For example, WM loves MF but others hate them. Who would you listen to?

There is no substitute for one's own experience IMO.

 

you can still ask questions and if one person offers a biased opinion then others will endeavour to correct him.

 

WM, also 'Loves the following' Krell/M/Levinson/Hovland/DCS/Ayre/Naim/Chord/Tact they are all 'Loved' with the same passion, so its not just any one product, so its a blanket biased view.Though I would like to point out, I do give even 'loved kit' its plus points too even if it doesn't float my boat
Either way, you do get a more Genuinely biased view form guys that actually use the kit on a day to day basis IE real experiance, its then do to the individual to make His/Her mind up according to their own tasts

 

James asked this Question

"There is a great deal of cynicism about magazine reviews on these forums. I've read a few which are pretty difficult to understand (mainly in Hi-Fi+!), a few which I've disagreed with, and some that I think are absolutely spot-on (or pretty close) IMO"

 

Forums have many positive attributes such as sharing group knowledge and experience, a willingness to help and advise members and a social side - for instance bake-offs or ZG members meeting at shows and terrorising exhibitors .

However, forums have their own 'group biases' too.

 

Any favourable reviews of kit that I own are good, any negative reviews of kit that I own are written by people who don't have a clue

Seriously though, I think that most reviews in the mags (except WHF) are trying to be honest and objective and I doubt that, even with WHF, it comes down to a straightforward: "How much cash for a 5 star review?". Still, there are all kinds of other influences on the reviews, including whether the manufacturer in question is a big advertiser with the mag, that they rarely amount to anything useful. In any case, opinions about hifi vary so much that even if someone was writing completely "objectively" it would still be based entirely on their taste and what they're looking for which might have nothing to do with what you're looking for.

Like others, I find reviews entertaining and useful as a source of knowing what's out there.

Michael.

 

I think No, They tell us trust but just a smal piece of trust and many information will be hidden because magazines work for hifi brands market not for us.

 

I like the two Davids, Vivian and Price.

 

Michael, perhaps you ought to do a favourable review section for the well known brands, and ask the manufacturers how much to give a good 5* review in public forum (fora?)
good way to make cash. perhaps an alternative to the mags?