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Steve Guttenberg - Audiophiliac

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amirm

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I mean, if I had to choose between dropping 100k on a precision analyser and getting 100k viewers talking about measurement or giving positive golden ear reviews or whatever the data trends tell me talk about for 800k subscribers with just my camera, more youtube income, and tons more companies sending me equipment to audition... I'm sure I would do the latter also.
To be clear, I have no shortage of gear to test. Indeed for the last few weeks I have been asking members to delay sending me gear. I could contact manufacturers and get *tons* more equipment if I wanted. But just don't need to.

As a community, we are far more powerful of a force than companies and a single reviewer like Steve. We are the "open source" version of what he has been doing. History says we will get there as I showed above. Just a couple of years ago, thinking about passing stereophile and all other audio sites out there was not even a dream or target for me. Now we have done it and then some. Again, credit goes to you all for supporting and valuing what we are doing here.

The night is young as they say. We have work to do but we are on the path to make a dent in this landscape. Let's not keep looking back. It is looking forward that matters. If I were Steve, I would think about how to deal with the world order changing on him in a year or two and what he is going to do about it. Stereophile seems to be sitting still and hence us passing them with gusto. Steve has to decide if he is next....
 

amirm

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I really hope so. then i am sure he will get a precision analyzer...
I don't think he is technical enough to be able to use one. I think longer term these reviewers need to defer to someone else doing the measurements and sound assessment and instead, focus on functionality, look and feel, value, etc.
 

Sgt. Ear Ache

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I mean it's all well and good to say he's a nice guy, just let him do his thing he's not hurting anyone...but he sort of is hurting people. His recommendations are valued by some and most of the gear he recommends highly is pretty expensive stuff. He's feeding the audiophile mythology that more money brings better sound, based on nothing more than what he thinks his aging ears are telling him. He isn't selling expensive gear because it looks cool or it's well made, he's selling based on his listening to it and finding it juicy as hell, lol. It's not unlike a holistic medicine guru peddling quackery. I don't advocate for people going on his youtube channel and causing a shitstorm in the comments. But I fully endorse threads like this here at ASR. People that find their way here might benefit from the different perspective...

I am aware also that he does do his "budget gear" vids. But he's really only paying lip service to it. It's always "good for the price," but never "you probably don't need to spend anything more than this because this sounds as good as you're likely to get."
 
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Easternlethal

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I don't think he is technical enough to be able to use one.
maxresdefault-1.jpg

or maybe he could just put it at the back of the video like this guy does with his oscillator
 

ctakim

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To be clear, I have no shortage of gear to test. Indeed for the last few weeks I have been asking members to delay sending me gear. I could contact manufacturers and get *tons* more equipment if I wanted. But just don't need to.

As a community, we are far more powerful of a force than companies and a single reviewer like Steve. We are the "open source" version of what he has been doing. History says we will get there as I showed above. Just a couple of years ago, thinking about passing stereophile and all other audio sites out there was not even a dream or target for me. Now we have done it and then some. Again, credit goes to you all for supporting and valuing what we are doing here.

The night is young as they say. We have work to do but we are on the path to make a dent in this landscape. Let's not keep looking back. It is looking forward that matters. If I were Steve, I would think about how to deal with the world order changing on him in a year or two and what he is going to do about it. Stereophile seems to be sitting still and hence us passing them with gusto. Steve has to decide if he is next....
Just a word of thanks for all that you do for the ASR community and for providing an important voice and perspective in the Hifi Audiophile community. The time and effort you devote to this clearly indicates that it is a labor of love. As I am reconnecting to this expensive hobby, ASR has made it a bit less expensive (or more accurately, a substantially better value for the money) than it would otherwise be. Also, as a scientist, I value the technical and experimental approach that you espouse here.
To be clear, I have no shortage of gear to test. Indeed for the last few weeks I have been asking members to delay sending me gear. I could contact manufacturers and get *tons* more equipment if I wanted. But just don't need to.

As a community, we are far more powerful of a force than companies and a single reviewer like Steve. We are the "open source" version of what he has been doing. History says we will get there as I showed above. Just a couple of years ago, thinking about passing stereophile and all other audio sites out there was not even a dream or target for me. Now we have done it and then some. Again, credit goes to you all for supporting and valuing what we are doing here.

The night is young as they say. We have work to do but we are on the path to make a dent in this landscape. Let's not keep looking back. It is looking forward that matters. If I were Steve, I would think about how to deal with the world order changing on him in a year or two and what he is going to do about it. Stereophile seems to be sitting still and hence us passing them with gusto. Steve has to decide if he is next....
Just a word of thanks for all that you do for the ASR community and for providing an important voice and perspective for the Hifi Audiophile community. The time and effort you devote to this clearly indicates that it is a labor of love. As I am recently reconnecting to this expensive hobby, ASR has made it a bit less expensive (or more accurately, a substantially better value for the money) than it would otherwise be. Also, as a scientist, I value the technical and experimental approach that you espouse here. Thanks Amir!
 

sal

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I mean it's all well and good to say he's a nice guy, just let him do his thing he's not hurting anyone...but he sort of is hurting people. His recommendations are valued by some and most of the gear he recommends highly is pretty expensive stuff. He's feeding the audiophile mythology that more money brings better sound, based on nothing more than what he thinks his aging ears are telling him. He isn't selling expensive gear because it looks cool or it's well made, he's selling based on his listening to it and finding it juicy as hell, lol. It's not unlike a holistic medicine guru peddling quackery. I don't advocate for people going on his youtube channel and causing a shitstorm in the comments. But I fully endorse threads like this here at ASR. People that find their way here might benefit from the different perspective...

I am aware also that he does do his "budget gear" vids. But he's really only paying lip service to it. It's always "good for the price," but never "you probably don't need to spend anything more than this because this sounds as good as you're likely to get."

As my father used to say, "You get more flies with honey than vinegar".

I've read some of the comments on his videos from people on this forum. They can get pretty nasty. We're more likely to get people to place more emphasis on objective measurements by proving our case rather than engaging in personal ridicule.

I think it would be worthwhile to let Steve do a review using a system we put together based on Amir's measurements...something guaranteed to be 'good'. If it that point, he still can't admit the value of measurements, there's no point in arguing any further. You're not going to win. All you can do is sit by as those types of reviews become irrelevant.
 

Sgt. Ear Ache

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As my father used to say, "You get more flies with honey than vinegar".

I've read some of the comments on his videos from people on this forum. They can get pretty nasty. We're more likely to get people to place more emphasis on objective measurements by proving our case rather than engaging in personal ridicule.

I think it would be worthwhile to let Steve do a review using a system we put together based on Amir's measurements...something guaranteed to be 'good'. If it that point, he still can't admit the value of measurements, there's no point in arguing any further. You're not going to win. All you can do is sit by as those types of reviews become irrelevant.

I'm fairly certain I know how a review of an ASR-assembled system would go - unless it was a blind review.

"It's a bit clinical, or cold...perhaps digital? I mean it's certainly a good sounding system don't get me wrong, but it lacks a certain musicality or warmth...there's just something missing"

But, if they were willing to do blind reviews, we'd all have a lot less to complain about.
 

Sugarbubble

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EVERYTHING has merits with Steve. He is a look on the bright side guy... from thousand dollar a watt tube amps to fifty year old planar speakers, he loves them all.
 

sal

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I'm fairly certain I know how a review of an ASR-assembled system would go - unless it was a blind review. But, if they were willing to do blind reviews, we'd all have a lot less to complain about.

That is exactly because of the back and forth that has been going on. When you impune someone's reputation, you're not likely to get an unbiased review...proving my point.

However, Steve is not one of those reviewers that insists that the price tag imbues special qualities onto a device. In fact most of his reviews are budget minded.

Indeed, even on this forum, many posts contain lists of equipment with the $ value (though this is not all meant to be boastful).
 

Thomas savage

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That is exactly because of the back and forth that has been going on. When you impune someone's reputation, you're not likely to get an unbiased review...proving my point.

However, Steve is not one of those reviewers that insists that the price tag imbues special qualities onto a device. In fact most of his reviews are budget minded.

Indeed, even on this forum, many posts contain lists of equipment with the $ value (though this is not all meant to be boastful).
Nobody fucks with the Jesus..
 

Sgt. Ear Ache

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That is exactly because of the back and forth that has been going on. When you impune someone's reputation, you're not likely to get an unbiased review...proving my point.

However, Steve is not one of those reviewers that insists that the price tag imbues special qualities onto a device. In fact most of his reviews are budget minded.

Indeed, even on this forum, many posts contain lists of equipment with the $ value (though this is not all meant to be boastful).

As has been said many many times on this forum, it's not the money that's the issue. It's the method of choosing what gets recommended. If it's cheap and works, great. If it's expensive and works, great. If it's expensive and does nothing better than something much cheaper but you're recommending it on the basis that it does do something better, well that's not so great.
 

Thomas savage

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As has been said many many times on this forum, it's not the money that's the issue. It's the method of choosing what gets recommended. If it's cheap and works, great. If it's expensive and works, great. If it's expensive and does nothing better than something much cheaper but you're recommending it on the basis that it does do something better, well that's not so great.
99% of subjective-oriented reviews relay on 2 things , a imagination and creative writing .

If one wishes to spend their money based on those two discriminating factors , well thats their prerogative.

I'm glad there's more out there now.
 

sal

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There's simply no point. They know what is good and what is not. They are simply doing the marketing work for whatever manufacturer sponsors them. Just read his Revel M16 review if you want to get a sense of what such a review would be like. It's overall positive, but nothing that of a pile of garbage like Klipsch, when he's doing the hard sell. When many of these subjective reviewers listen to a speaker with an objectively good response curve (everyone knows Revel's house curve), they say that the speakers lack excitement. "Neutrality" is a concept used negatively. (Are they saying the actual recordings suck????) That other guy mentioned calls himself a "tone whore." (I mean, if you care about measurements, why would you want to listen to his reviews when he says such things.)

We simply give these folks too much benefit of the doubt. They are salesmen, selling the item reviewed and page views. That's it. As has been stated, they are good if you want to know what's happening in the market, and to get anecdotal info about the fit and finish quality of the wares. But at this point we have been beaten over the head with evidence that says their evaluations of the speakers themselves are worthless.

Imagine watching YouTube videos of people giving subjective evaluations of TV and monitor color calibrations.

I get what you're saying, I really do. Such a review is not likely to take place and this was really meant to be a provocative statement.

But if we don't place any value on his opinion, why do we have a whole thread dedicated to this poor guy? Just to mess with him? That seems like a waste of time and energy.

The truth is, we're messing with his livelihood. He *is* a salesman. He sold high-end audio for decades. If you don't value his opinion, then don't watch his reviews.

Honestly, I think we're better served by bashing companies like AudioQuest who are intentionally deceiving their customers.

they are good if you want to know what's happening in the market

That's the only real value I find as well, with one hitch - He does have a good list of reference music. He's turned me on to some good recordings
 
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mhardy6647

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The truth is, we're messing with his livelihood. He *is* a salesman. He sold high-end audio for decades. If you don't value his opinion, then don't watch his reviews.

Honestly, I think we're better served by bashing companies like AudioQuest who are intentionally deceiving their customers.

So... AudioQuest. They're salespeople, too. Not sure it's fair to Mr. Guttenberg or to AQ to judge their motives (other than that they're both motivated to make a sale) is it?

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