Do opinions matter?

American mags are under threat of lawsuit, so all reviews are positive!

I find there are a couple of UK reviewers who's opinions are informative - I have been reading their reviews for a long time, and generally, their observations have correlated with mine.

I find that opinions expressed on the internet forums are completely meaningless, often backed by ownership bias.

Ultimately, I have to hear something myself before I can have a real opinion on it.
 
dcathro said:
American mags are under threat of lawsuit, so all reviews are positive!
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In America freedom of speech is a basic constitutional right and libel is far harder to prosecute than it is here in the UK, so I suspect any reluctance to criticise you may perceive will be down to other factors, e.g. advertising revenue.

Tony.
 
TonyL said:
In America freedom of speech is a basic constitutional right and libel is far harder to prosecute than it is here in the UK, so I suspect any reluctance to criticise you may perceive will be down to other factors, e.g. advertising revenue.

Tony.
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Whatever the reason, the reviews are drivel. A good subjective review (i.e. the how does it sound section) should take no more than a 1/2 to 1 page! Many American reviewers regularly manage 6 to 8 pages, but with no real critical technical insites.
 
RobHolt said:
There was a time when I would read magazines from cover to cover but increasingly I find myself scanning the test and spec pages while ignoring the actual subjective review entirely, and that perfectly describes this instance.
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Exactly the same here.

Almost half a lifetime ago I would daily check out the store for the new Hifi News (always late here, if at all), and then memorise it entirely.

Nowadays I am utterly bored by the prose and all to often insulted by the massive technical incompetence of nearly all reviewers.
 
I've not read a hifi mag since the last heathrow show I attended ...that was provided free of charge in the goodie bag ..

As to the original question ....do opinions matter ....of course they do , but they are only opinions not facts carved in stone !

As to the quad 909 mentioned ...I have a freind who has one and damn fine it sounds too ..in his system . there we go thats my opinion !
 
Werner - is there anything more enlightening in the European Press, and if so, what?

The UK is an awfully insular market and I'd be quite happy to look elsewhere for a different kind of commentary if it came recommended.
 
Don't know. I mostly read the UK press.

Dutch and Belgian (not that the latter exists) are horrible. French and German are very bland.
 
I read all the magazines in Borders (We still have it here in Oz) while my wife is shopping. I would never want to keep any of them though.

I do subscribe to HiFi Critic, which I like. It is much more crtitical than any other current mainstream mag - although that still doesn't mean that I would buy anything based on a review!
 
If opinion didn't matter we'd all live our lives as uber-rationalists* like Spock, or 'mr logic' (strap line: 'he's a pain in the arse').

I think it is possible to consider opinions as part of the decision making process without accepting every opinion as gospel.

Just becuase I post some thoughts on my amp I don't expect everyone to agree and rush out and buy one. Likewise, anyone who reads me saying my 3 grand amp is fantastic would be insane if they didn't think part of my opinion was biased because I'd bought the fucking thing in the 1st place.

People who do follow opinion pieces on any topic either: know very little about the subject matter in question, know and trust the writer completely, and / or maybe just don't have the time or inclination to spend time getting to know the technicalities of it.

This doesn't just apply to HiFi does it? It applies to pretty much every equipment driven hobby / activity and lots that aren't.

This is hardly a massive revelation is it?

I rarely buy magazines these days because I don't think they are great value. However, when I do I certainly don't turn to the measurements page; because other than the very basic parameters of power, impedance curve vs freq and sensitivity they mean very little to me. Conversely, I don't think:

'God that Gregory's got a way with hyperbole, I think I'll re-mortgage the house for a Valhalla power cord.'

Perhaps an idea would be for somebody with the technical awareness to expand on that first post. They could point out what measurements are most relevant to the most common subjective criteria highlighted by reviewers and enlighten us all.


* Ironic I know.
 
scott_01 said:
If opinion didn't matter we'd all live our lives as uber-rationalists* like Spock, or 'mr logic' (strap line: 'he's a pain in the arse').

I think it is possible to consider opinions as part of the decision making process without accepting every opinion as gospel.

Just becuase I post some thoughts on my amp I don't expect everyone to agree and rush out and buy one. Likewise, anyone who reads me saying my 3 grand amp is fantastic would be insane if they didn't think part of my opinion was biased because I'd bought the fucking thing in the 1st place.

People who do follow opinion pieces on any topic either: know very little about the subject matter in question, know and trust the writer completely, and / or maybe just don't have the time or inclination to spend time getting to know the technicalities of it.

This doesn't just apply to HiFi does it? It applies to pretty much every equipment driven hobby / activity and lots that aren't.

This is hardly a massive revelation is it?

I rarely buy magazines these days because I don't think they are great value. However, when I do I certainly don't turn to the measurements page; because other than the very basic parameters of power, impedance curve vs freq and sensitivity they mean very little to me. Conversely, I don't think:

'God that Gregory's got a way with hyperbole, I think I'll re-mortgage the house for a Valhalla power cord.'

Perhaps an idea would be for somebody with the technical awareness to expand on that first post. They could point out what measurements are most relevant to the most common subjective criteria highlighted by reviewers and enlighten us all.


* Ironic I know.
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Good points there, but the problem as I see it stems from the fact that many in the market for audio will follow fads, utterly unfounded claims and sometimes what amounts to little more than hearsay when buying.

I come across surprisingly few people in audio prepared to form their own opinion based on what they actually hear themselves. Much of the time it gets clouded and confused by external muck.

Happens in all walks of life for sure, but certain markets seem more affected than others. The degree to which that is felt seems directly proportional to the amount of bull circulating within the industry, so for example high-end audio has rather a lot in common with the cosmetics industry, while something like photography (and I'm talking about the equipment not artistic interpretation of the result) is clearly very science and 'fact' based.
 
You seem to be spending time on something which you claim doesn't matter, and getting annoyed enough about it to type childish insults into teh interwebs. Goodness knows how you would behave were you to come across something you disagree with which actually "does matter" to you.

Still. Not my problem....
 
RobHolt said:
Good points there, but the problem as I see it stems from the fact that many in the market for audio will follow fads, utterly unfounded claims and sometimes what amounts to little more than hearsay when buying.

I come across surprisingly few people in audio prepared to form their own opinion based on what they actually hear themselves. Much of the time it gets clouded and confused by external muck.

Happens in all walks of life for sure, but certain markets seem more affected than others. The degree to which that is felt seems directly proportional to the amount of bull circulating within the industry, so for example high-end audio has rather a lot in common with the cosmetics industry, while something like photography (and I'm talking about the equipment not artistic interpretation of the result) is clearly very science and 'fact' based.
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I'm not too familiar with photography TBH I have to limit my geek like tendencies to one HiFi., er and fishing. But don't you think that the photography hardware market is pretty similar to the old entry / mid price hifi market?

A couple of big headlines about mega-pixels and 'HD' video sell most things sub , say 400 quid. If that doesn't work then it's all about lifestyle marketing and product appearance. The success of which, is of course all dependent on consumer perception (opinion).

The 'High End' of photography hopefully contains lots of people who at least know how to take pictures manually and hence care more about the specs / measurements. However I'd be willing to bet that there is a sizable chunk of the upper end of the consumer / amateur market that is made up of people conforming to one of the above criteria who have read an opinion without much context and then purchased accordingly.

So, to move it on.. how do we link quantify our opinions, provide context and link them to measurements? Is there an outlet that does this particularly well, and is it any use to people?
 
You seem to be spending time on something which you claim doesn't matter, and getting annoyed enough about it to type childish insults into teh interwebs. Goodness knows how you would behave were you to come across something you disagree with which actually "does matter" to you.
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Question: Does opinion matter?

Answer: Not if it relates to brand X.

In this case what poster may mean is that whilst the opinions do in fact 'matter', they only do so in so far as they are stimuli to an emotional reaction and not a physical reaction, (like buying the product, or smashing every example with a lump hammer etc).

In this case the resulting emotion appears to be one of distrust; the action of the poster is to then subsequently disregard or ignore the opinions expressed on Brand X.

However, as these emotions may caused be based purely on opinions maybe the poster should place these opinions in context and gather evidence before ignoring any writing on these products?

Aaarrrgh, damn vicious circle :cry:
 
i like older equipment... when the stuff of now becomes older, i'll then read the reviews/specs, though it'll make little difference to my decision as the price would already have been right - friends and associates will have already tried and found favour and chances are that unless it's incredible within my space it will just be moved on again within not many months :)
 
My comment was tongue in cheek and throw away - no time was spent on it. As usual you missed the point, numpty-dumpty.
 

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