AVS Thread: Does anyone base there [sic] buys off audiosciencereview?

[JayGilb]

The cheapaudioman reviewed the AIYIMA A08 on the 30th. The next day the price jumped 40% from $116 to $160 (that's right overnight). I wonder whether ASR has that level of "pull". I regret not ordering it but January is going to be a tight month for me.

cheapaudioman only recommends equipment based on his subjective listening and also makes money via YouTube links from each sale.
Very few people care about measurements and just want to hear someone on YouTube say it's okay to buy it.

 

[TrevC]

I sold all my B&W speakers

I recently bought some. 706 S2.

 

[acetogen]

cheapaudioman only recommends equipment based on his subjective listening and also makes money via YouTube links from each sale.
Very few people care about measurements and just want to hear someone on YouTube say it's okay to buy it.

I know all of that. It is obvious from his site and he says it.

 

[sarumbear]

Since started reading ASR (and immediately joined as a sponsor) all my purchases were tested on ASR. I don't always agree with the conclusions of the tests but all I need is the data to make up my own mind.

ASR is a God send for a multi-discipline engineer like me who has to understand anything being said that I have interest in.

 

[JayGilb]

I know all of that. It is obvious from his site and he says it.

My point is that people only care about his opinion because he has a YouTube channel. His influence is based on mindless celebrity, not that he knows anything about the technical side of the items he shamelessly hawks.
Yet, as you have pointed out, he has tremendous influence primarily because people are looking for any justification to purchase an audio item and he supplies that excuse.

 

[Spkrdctr]

Although I do not ridicule people for such carelessness or sloppiness with ad hominem attacks, basic grammatical errors like that tell me that the writer is not rigorous and disciplined in their thinking.

Hey, I sometimes resemble that remark! You didn't have to broadcast it all over the thread........

 

[acetogen]

My point is that people only care about his opinion because he has a YouTube channel. His influence is based on mindless celebrity, not that he knows anything about the technical side of the items he shamelessly hawks.
Yet, as you have pointed out, he has tremendous influence primarily because people are looking for any justification to purchase an audio item and he supplies that excuse.

I am not here to defend Randy, but I watched some of his videos and he does not claim to be an objectivist, he never reviews anything that costs >$1000, hence his YouTube name. I take the videos as he post those reviews, a lot of the are pure entertainment; -besides one can always look at the reviews from buyers on Amazon or his YouTube commenters. I assume Amazon items that he does not review are probably not the best.

The Aiyima a07 was reviewed both here (https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ds/aiyima-a07-tpa3255-review-amplifier.18984/) and by him. Randy gave it a high score. But Amir has not yet reviewed the a08, which I am interested in because it bypasses the need to shop for a separate power supply, but decided against it, mostly because there are no reported measurements of this amp that I am aware of.

 

[Xulonn]

Amir has not yet reviewed the a08, which I am interested in because it bypasses the need to shop for a separate power supply

The A08 is a DAC/Amplifier, not just an amp, so it is not competing directly with the A07.

 

[JayGilb]

Randy gave it a high score. But Amir has not yet reviewed the a08, which I am interested in because it bypasses the need to shop for a separate power supply, but decided against it, mostly because there are no reported measurements of this amp that I am aware of.

Randy bases his reviews off of subjective listening, the same as most of the other swinging dicks on YouTube, the fact that he reviews low cost gear means nothing to me.
Amir, Julian Krause and maybe one other actually measure the performance as well as giving a quick subjective opinion. I give equal weight to all subjective opinions, especially when they profit from it.

 

[kongwee]

My country is small, many brand to listen. I do go forum like this to get a rough idea what to look for.

 

[Spkrdctr]

My country is small, many brand to listen. I do go forum like this to get a rough idea what to look for.

That is smart. Welcome to ASR!

 

[mdunjic]

I bought my electronics and speakers long before Amir started ASR so my immediate answer is NO.

However, naturally, as a trained electronic engineer myself, I really enjoy what Amir does impeccably … it’s genuinely unbiased, scientific and pure engineering validation of what manufacturers are publishing in their commercial product specs and what mainstream reviewers are ‘telling audiophiles to think’ … something like this is long overdue tbh

I personally don’t buy into logic that ‘objective measurements are not an end all’, as I myself firmly believe in simple math behind basic laws of sound reproduction and acoustic physics … but hey that’s just me.

However, simply due to so many different variables involved, like many different components configurations and combinations (where those different components don’t measure identical, plus different room acoustics / shapes, speaker positions and dispersion characters, etc), i fully understand that many others probably are and have full right to feel differently about this hobby than me.

If I would be in need of power amp today I would most likely go for feed forward design of Benchmark ABH2 … because it measures impeccably on Amir’s bench. Therefore if I would be starting today, I would listen to Amir.

Disclaimer - maybe it’s just my bias toward feed forward power amp designs like THX AAA (i.e. Benchmark ABH2) or Quad “current dumping”, hehe, as I already have my feed forward based “current dumping “ Quad 909s power amps (last 15 yrs), currently driven with THX AAA based preamp (MyTek Liberty HPA) … in the past I had as preamps Krell KRC3, Quad 99, Quad CDP-2 and now MyTek (which seems cleanest and best sounding preamp so far driving Quads)

UPDATE: Benchmark LA4 real preamp arrived and replaced MyTek THX-AAA HPA which I was using as preamp! Benchmark LA4 is amazing preamp device ! Of course brand new MyTek is up for sale now

 

[acetogen]

Randy bases his reviews off of subjective listening, the same as most of the other swinging dicks on YouTube, the fact that he reviews low cost gear means nothing to me.
Amir, Julian Krause and maybe one other actually measure the performance as well as giving a quick subjective opinion. I give equal weight to all subjective opinions, especially when they profit from it.

Sounds like you have an agenda against the Cheapaudioman or Youtube, since you bring the salty language . I have not experience with Julian Krause, it seems he reviews mostly pro-audio stuff (dbx, Focusrite and the like),

 

[acetogen]

The A08 is a DAC/Amplifier, not just an amp, so it is not competing directly with the A07.

They use the same TPA3255 chip and op-amps. I only need it as an amp. BTW, it was briefly on sale last weekend on Amazon, hence I ordered the Aiyima a08.

 

[JayGilb]

Sounds like you have an agenda against the Cheapaudioman or Youtube, since you bring the salty language . I have not experience with Julian Krause, it seems he reviews mostly pro-audio stuff (dbx, Focusrite and the like),

No agenda, there's a ton of purely subjective review sites on YouTube and Cheapaudioman is just another one of those.

 

[MGP]

The author of "AVS Thread: Does anyone base there [sic] buys off audiosciencereview?" shows disdain, if not ignorance, for measurements.
I suspect that this position is designed to gain favor with advertisers, many of which, consider measurements as risky.

Still, I hope that manufacturers return to providing SOTA baseline performance.

- Rich

Measurements are only risky if your product doesn't measure well...

 

[RichB]

Measurements are only risky if your product doesn't measure well...

The bar is high here on ASR.
Processors are hovering around SINAD 100 and there may be valid reasons why complex products do not perform as well as two channel DACs.
Although, the MiniDSP does this well.

Until manufacturers feel that pursuing and publishing measurements attracts customers, it will not change.

- Rich

 

[Deleted member 43441]

The bar is high here on ASR.
Processors are hovering around SINAD 100 and there may be valid reasons why complex products do not perform as well as two channel DACs.
Although, the MiniDSP does this well.

Until manufacturers feel that pursuing and publishing measurements attracts customers, it will not change.

- Rich

I got in on the tail end of this conversation, but there are so many misleading subjective reviewer‘s on YouTube, and all across the Internet. I’ve been at this for decades, and years ago we would not think about buying anything before we checked the specifications of a product. Call me gullible, or just call most manufacturers from back in the day ethical. I’d like to think that they were ethical, but competition was fierce so these companies concentrated on making better gear, and they were always trying to outdo each other, it was competition, there were rivalries. Now it’s just a slick marketing tricks, a catchy name, sending your who knows how it measures gear to those names we all know online, and let them pretend like it’s better because it cost more. Personally I believe the reviews on Audio science review have thrown a wrench into spokes of the ever turning high-end wheel. The wheel that never stops thinking of new ways to take our money, and lowers the bar for itself every year. How many times do I read these reviews on the magazines that we all grew up reading, but sadly now are taken over by the money monster. Every review I read… If it cost $2000 well it doesn’t compare to my $6000 blah blah blah, and so forth and the end never comes.

I’ve ranted enough lol, ASR has grounded me, (pun intended) It’s set the bar a little bit higher, and it’s got everybody on their toes once again. I’ve read some of the other forums, and some of them will never get it, they just won’t get it… But others are angry that their gear measured so poorly for XXX amount of dollars. No longer will I get sucked in by the slick used car salesman, or slick new car salesman approach. Forgive me if you’re a car salesman and honest.

Edit;

Yes, I have purchased two DAC’s and a phono preamp based on ASR reviews.

 

[Descartes]

Nope need to hear the speakers first! For amplifiers maybe

 

[ThatM1key]

cheapaudioman only recommends equipment based on his subjective listening and also makes money via YouTube links from each sale.
Very few people care about measurements and just want to hear someone on YouTube say it's okay to buy it.

Everybody has there different opinions and ears. cheapaudioman said the Topping E30 sounded bad and Z reviews said the Yamaha A-S301 sounded like an AVR. I still watch these youtubers. I have both products, the Topping E30 I bought because of ASR Measurements and Yamaha A-S301 because of word of mouth ASR/YT . I bought my ELACs on word of mouth YT and ASR measurements. I initially bought the SMSL SA300 based on word of mouth (On ASR & YT) but I returned because it was just really terrible.

If my Yamaha A-S301 was measured, I'm certain it falls between 15bit and 16bit, but who knows. Maybe it'll measure better or worse I don't know. It's good to take risks versus buying products based on measurements solely. There products measured on here that are close to what I own like my Sony STR-DN1080. I'm certain my Sony AVR is based off the Sony STR-ZA1100ES or could be even better.

Bottom line, I don't dump youtubers because they said something stupid or my product experience was different. Now if one whole heartly believes in snake oil products like MQA, they i'll dump them quickly.