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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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In Reply to: RE: TAS Spencer Holbert's Shameful Admission. posted by geezerrocket on April 8, 2014 at 20:39:39:
The point of the article I linked was not about the DACs in question but about reviewers "NAMING" a product nearly double the price from a "big name" DAC company (MSB) and ripping it to shreds while raving about a DAC with inferior technical numbers as for nearly half the price as being a lot better. The DACs themselves were completely irrelevant to the point I was making or the point the OP raised about the TAS review "not naming" the inferior DAC.And sorry I don't read every review that has ever been written on every audio product. Perhaps there are newer examples where the reviewer basically calls a twice the price DAC an unlistenable pile of poop and the other DAC the bees knees. But the old AN/MSB stands out because I happen to own several AN pieces.
The negative verbiage hardly hurt MSB who now sells DACs at vastly higher price tags. I liked what I heard from them at CES (2010).
Reviewers and review magazines seem to me to walk on eggshells to "protect" the manufacturers.
Steven Rochlin was attacked for being a "rich guy" but when you have deep pockets and you can run a magazine from spare change then you don't have to be a bootlicker. Which is not to say his reviews are always correct or that we will all agree but he doesn't have to worry about advertising.
UHF magazine ripped a few companies way back in the early 1980s those companies no longer send them anything for review. The distributor that carries other lines won't send them any of the other companies to review either. Some companies will only send stuff if they are absolutely sure they will get a rave. For them it is pure advertising (and it only costs them shipping). When you have a reputation of doling out negative reviews then other companies (that pay attention) will avoid the magazine as well.
I was at a dealer in Ontario and felt they did a shabby job of customer service. I wrote about it on the Canadian forum it went back and forth - not too argumentative but I told them what I thought. This dealer is also a distributor. A year or so later after hearing really good sound from both a speaker maker and an amp maker I contacted them a few times for a review as the carry both lines. No reply. So I burned a bridge. Understandably, if I am critical of the dealer publicly then maybe I will be critical of the product.
Even when you ask most reviewers on websites for actual no holds barred opinions you rarely get a straight answer.
Edits: 04/09/14
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Follow Ups
- RE: TAS Spencer Holbert's Shameful Admission. - RGA 17:37:10 04/09/14 (2)
- RE: TAS Spencer Holbert's Shameful Admission. - Sprezza Tura 19:04:22 04/09/14 (1)
- RE: TAS Spencer Holbert's Shameful Admission. - RGA 23:36:56 04/10/14 (0)
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