Your suggestions for making Audiosciencereview (ASR) even better

[sprellemannen]

First of all, I want to thank Amir and Thomas Savage for this amazing forum.
Amir's working capacity is obviously very high and in my opinion he publishes very well-written reviews all with measurements. Amir and Thomas also seem to me to have made an excellent job in keeping this forum "on track". Its scientific focus makes it a stellar forum.

I hope people reading this thread will give constructive suggestions for making this great forum even better, and also comments other peoples suggestions.
As suggestions for making it better should been seen "together" with what is already excellent, I will post an own thread where we can praise great things with this forum. Here is that thread: ASR praise

Suggestions

Discussion forums
I think an improvement could been made in the hierarchy of discussion forums. An improved hierarchy could make it easier to find relevant threads (and that persons would continue posting on already started threads). Furthermore, it could result in more forum activity (and more members).
To be constructive, I suggest something like this (which is inspired from another forum which does IMO not hold the standard of ASR in many other ways):

Subforums with the following categories:

* headphones
General discussion of headphones related stuff.

* "Brands"
With one thread for each brand. Here owners and potential buyers etc. can discuss features, measurements, share photos of, enthusiasm for etc. the products made by the brand. The reviews should be placed as today (not under the brand's thread under "Brands").

* "my setup" ("personal audio blog")
Here members can share photos and thoughts of their setup, their room, their "audio story", experiences with different gear, come with audio opinions, inspirations etc. NOTE: This suggestion is probably not so good, since such a thread could perfectly fit in the existing "Member Area" subforum.

* Acoustics and room
Discussion of acoustic treatment products, acoustic measurements related to the room, photos of room/studios which are (or maybe are) well threated, links to helpful relevant sites etc.

* Tech explanations
Threads with explanations regarding measurements, electronics etc. written by Amir and others (I think Amir already made a post explaining some of his measurements).

Sub-forums
Make appropriate subforums (for both the exististing and suggested) when natural.

On the reviews
I think every review should have a conclusion which is easy to read for non-tech people.
Amir is good on this already in many occasions: He clearly recommends or clearly not recommends the reviewed product, and he also sometimes comes with a conclusion 'in between' (which I also think is great, because everything is not always black and with).
An improvement may be to always (as long as "possible") clearly come with such a conclusion (one of the three alternatives mentioned).

 

[daftcombo]

I think you had good intentions but such a thread should be launched by Amir himself if he feels the need for it. Don't you think?

He already created this subsection for a reason: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?forums/forum-suggestions-and-announcements.27/

 

[q3cpma]

Personally, I would have separated headphones and speakers, but I guess that would fragment the board too much.

 

[Matias]

I think ASR needs to expand to Europe somehow. Get someone in the EU as staff, get him/her an APx555 and start receiving gear there too for reviews.

 

[pozz]

I think you had good intentions but such a thread should be launched by Amir himself if he feels the need for it. Don't you think?

He already created this subsection for a reason: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?forums/forum-suggestions-and-announcements.27/

There's more than enough work to go around, I'd say.

First of all, I want to thank Amir and Thomas Savage for this amazing forum.
Amir's working capacity is obviously very high and in my opinion he publishes very well-written reviews all with measurements. Amir and Thomas also seem to me to have made an excellent job in keeping this forum "on track". Its scientific focus makes it a stellar forum.

I hope people reading this thread will give constructive suggestions for making this great forum even better, and also comments other peoples suggestions.
As suggestions for making it better should been seen "together" with what is already excellent, I will post an own thread where we can praise great things with this forum.

Suggestions

Discussion forums
I think an improvement could been made in the hierarchy of discussion forums. An improved hierarchy could make it easier to find relevant threads (and that persons would continue posting on already started threads). Furthermore, it could result in more forum activity (and more members).
To be constructive, I suggest something like this (which is inspired from another forum which does IMO not hold the standard of ASR in many other ways):

Subforums with the following categories:

* headphones
General discussion of headphones related stuff.

* "Brands"
With subforums for each brand. Here owners and potential buyers etc. can discuss features, measurements, share photos of, enthusiasm for etc. the products made by the brand.

* "my setup" ("personal audio blog")
Here members can share photos and thoughts of their setup, their room, their "audio story", experiences with different gear, come with audio opinions, inspirations etc.

* Acoustics and room
Discussion of acoustic treatment products, acoustic measurements related to the room, photos of room/studios which are (or maybe are) well threated, links to helpful relevant sites etc.

* Tech explanations
Threads with explanations regarding measurements, electronics etc. written by Amir and others (I think Amir already made a post explaining some of his measurements).

Sub-forums
Make appropriate subforums (for both the exististing and suggested) when natural.

On the reviews
I think every review should have a conclusion which is easy to read for non-tech people.
Amir is good on this already in many occasions: He clearly recommends or clearly not recommends the reviewed product, and he also sometimes comes with a conclusion 'in between' (which I also think is great, because everything is not always black and with).
An improvement may be to always (as long as "possible") clearly come with such a conclusion (one of the three alternatives mentioned).

Some of the subforum suggestions are already covered. For example:

• * headphones/acoustics/rooms: Speakers, Headphones and Room Acoustics
• * "Brands": There already over 280 brands reviewed and number will only grow. It would be pretty impractical to set it up.
• * "my setup" ("personal audio blog"): Member Area
• * Tech explanations: These are distributed across the forum since it's pretty much the main thing we engage in. Explicit articles and such are in the Audio Reference Library and members often ask for specific explanations here: Audio Newbie/Beginner Technical Forum. There's also this list in a thread in the latter subforum.

Setting apart room acoustics and speakers doesn't really make sense given how deeply they're involved.

An explicit headphone forum may make sense as long as someone roots through all the threads and gives Thomas or Amir a list to move.

 

[Matias]

This is a very good suggestion, I think. He (there is a lack of women in audio) should be good at writing the review as well, though.

Added her as well to be fair. There is hope.

 

[pozz]

I also think the reviews should be placed as today.
What I meant with Brands is a subforum where members are discussing stuff related to the brand. One thread for each brand.
Thanks for your comment, I update my opening post to avoid such a misunderstanding.

I don't know... There are several thousand posts each for brands like JDS Labs, Topping, Revel. Having individual threads for issues, releases, news and models makes it easier to sort through.

 

[pozz]

I think ASR needs to expand to Europe somehow. Get someone in the UE as staff, get him/her an APx555 and start receiving gear there too for reviews.

@LTig has always written excellent reviews. A retirement fund for him?

And for @pma and @trl too.

 

[pozz]

Many other forums have "brand thread" (a "brands subforum"), and my experience with that is good.

Aren't those usually funded by that company or manufacturer?

It would mean more rather than less administrative work I'd think.

 

[pozz]

@sprellemannen I appreciate the thought you've put into this as well.

 

[LTig]

@LTig has always written excellent reviews. A retirement fund for him?

Nice idea
If you start the fund today and collect 10€ per day we would be close to the amount needed for an AP555. I could cover the remaining amount then.

No garage or similar room for a Klippel though - and no money of course...

 

[KSTR]

A more versatile search function, the one we have currently is very limited IMHO. The search function at DIYaudio.com is much more flexible. I also like its ultra compact startpage and very compact and non-bloating screen layout in general. I understand XenoForo is well optimized for mobiles whereas the age-old vBulletin isn't but I'm an old fart and don't surf much on mobile devices.

 

[RayDunzl]

A more versatile search function

Googulation:

site:audiosciencereview.com add search terms here

https://www.google.com/search?q=site:audiosciencereview.com+add+search+terms+here&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS778US778&oq=site:audiosciencereview.com+add+search+terms+here&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-advanced-search-operators/

 

[Thomas savage]

I think they need a moderator that's not always drunk and who doesn't insist on telling everyone when he's sat on the loo.

Anything that relies on one individual to sustain it is inevitably rather precarious.

A few more guys under the ASR banner doing measurements and gear reviews would be good.

Also I think Amirm notoriety online can be a positive and a negative so having other lesser known guys forging reputations here would serve us all well. A lot of the issues we can have is due to individuals' baggage' concerning our king imo.

Oh, did I mention a sober moderator..

 

[Deleted member 65]

I think they need a moderator that's not always drunk and who dose not insist on telling everyone when he's sat on the loo.

I’d willingly make a third forum donation on a considerably amount if @Thomas savage volunteers to master an AP5xx in EU (Oh, shit ... he’s no longer with us in EU) ... ;-)

 

[Thomas savage]

I’d willingly make a third forum donation on a considerably amount if @Thomas savage volunteers to master an AP5xx in EU (Oh, shit ... he’s no longer with us in EU) ... ;-)

I trained @amirm so I'd not have to do the reviews.

They interfered with my drinking.

 

[stevenswall]

Have a poll where people put money in and get to vote accordingly for which speaker they would like to see measured. Change your vote, 1 per $1 at any time, and once it's enough to cover shipping and such to Amir, it withdraws the funds from everyone [who voted for that particular model] and sends Amir the speaker.

 

[pozz]

Have a poll where people put money in and get to vote accordingly for which speaker they would like to see measured. Change your vote, 1 per $1 at any time, and once it's enough to cover shipping and such to Amir, it withdraws the funds from everyone and send him the speaker.

Oh boy there'd be fights over this.

 

[stevenswall]

Oh boy there'd be fights over this.

Why? People would have to put their money where their mouth is, and there's nothing to fight about: If your speaker doesn't win, pay the full price yourself and I'm sure it can be measured if Amir is asked nicely.

 

[pozz]

Why? People would have to put their money where their mouth is, and there's nothing to fight about: If your speaker doesn't win, pay the full price yourself and I'm sure it can be measured if Amir is asked nicely.

I think a public pool of cash where $=votes is bound to cause issues. 99 members donate $10, 1 member donates $1k and suddenly doubles his buying power and has majority. And then the votes themselves: what proportion would constitute sufficient reason to buy if there is no clear majority, especially for a long time?