YouTube Audio Reviewer Tier List - Jan 2023 Edition

[CleanSound]

This is my take on YouTube reviewers. If you are a YouTube reviewer or any kind of reviewer and you do not have industrial precision measurement tools, then you should absolute refrain from speaking about your subjective perception of the sound, unless there is something obviously off with the sound with electronics and with the exception for speakers.

If you are reviewing the electronics, you can talk about the engineering (as provided by the manufacturer or your analysis if you have the technical background), the functionality, describing the cosmetics built quality, your experience using the equipment, what you like and don't like (and why) and the reliability for the time you had it.

I personally don't enjoy watching reviews for entertainment factor, if I wanted to be entertained, I would be watching a movie, but that's me personally.

Here is an example of a perfect reviewer in my books, he's a car reviewer not audio, but this guy is a no BS, straight to the point, very detail and practical, sticks with observable facts and experience with the product AND does not drag out the video when he doesn't have to (unlike that Zeos guy, that guy talks so much gibberish nonsense that you can't make any sense of anything).

 

[Deleted member 48726]

I just found out Stereopolices' channel on YouTube is gone!? -Anyone know anything?

He had many interesting in-depth videos.

 

[lovelo]

 

[lovelo]

This blog: https://hifirep.jimdofree.com/

 

[VintageFlanker]

Hans Beekhuyzen Has a good channel as well.

No, he has not. To me he's the worst cause he sounds somewhat "technical" and expert to newbies. Except the whole channel is absolute disinformation.

Is it me or are the YouTube reviewers getting worse?

Everything you described existed from the very beginning of YT audiophile influencers. And before them, the audiophile press always worked that way. "Best product at this price. Total bargain. Until the next review"

 

[tmtomh]

Is it me or are the YouTube reviewers getting worse?

One episode, A British Audiophile loves the Gustard R26. Two reviews later he’s bagging on it.

The Audiophile Man did the same thing with the Advanve Paris X-i75. Then recommended its next closest sibling as an upgrade.

I just watched Steve Guttenberg do a video about the Denafrips Enyo 15th and in 16 minutes of him telling me how much he loved it I don’t recall him at any point telling me much of WHY he loved it.

GR Research, Thomas & Stereo, New Record Day and Passion For Sound are all either retailers (PFS), making their own products (GR) or glomming onto another manufacturer and releasing some vanity product (T&S, NRD).

I like Old Guy Hifi. He seems to at least tell it the way he hears it. Hans Beekhuyzen Has a good channel as well. Those are the only two I bother with anymore. Everyone else has jumped the shark.

I don't know if they're getting worse, but it's definitely not just you - the signal to noise ratio (pun intended) in most YouTube audio-oriented videos is quite poor.

And no offense, but Hans Beekhuyzen is in my opinion among the worst. He definitely has a lot of knowledge that checks out - but at least as of a couple of years ago when I stopped ever looking in on his videos, the factual stuff was routinely mixed together with some real whoppers. (EDIT: I see @VintageFlanker beat me to it on that one!)

These days I watch far fewer of those channels and videos than I used to - but again, I don't think it's because they've gotten worse. I think it's because I've just gotten tired of them, and I've grown so irritated by the casual relationship with evidence and verifiable facts that it's degraded the entertainment value I get out of them.

Steve Guttenberg is probably the best example of the sad aspect of this for me: he seems like a really nice guy; his presentation style is very pleasant and down-to-earth, and he's not pretentious and back when I watched his videos they were generally less clickbait-y than the norm. But as you note, he is remarkably consistent in never really explaining anything, and it appears to be because he doesn't know and - crucially - doesn't really want to know. It's a casual, "this is what I hear and this is what other people say" kind of chattiness that I think comes out of his past history in hi-fi sales. I remember lots of salespeople and other customers just like that from when I was a kid in the 1980s and I would accompany my father during his visits to hi-fi shops. I say it's sad because his friendly, unpretentious approach makes him so much less insufferable than several other audio content creators I could name.

I will also admit that once in a blue moon I watch Danny's GR Research videos. I've gone 12 rounds with him in the comments section on his videos about his AC cords and other nonsense, and his religious devotion to those speaker connectors he likes is... a problem. But if you send this guy a speaker whose design is really FUBAR, one that would get a broken panther here, he does know how to smooth out the response and he does use measurements (however limited and however much excessively smoothed) as a guide. I do appreciate that. To be clear, if I had a speaker that was a "Danny fix" candidate, I wouldn't send it to him; I'd hit myself in the head with a mallet and then buy a better speaker. But he does seem to know how to make a terrible speaker less terrible.

I also like A British Audiophile once in a while because he is soothing and enjoyable to listen to. I also enjoy Tharmabar for the same reason - not for information but because I find him relaxing to listen to, and I get to see video of some nice-looking gear. I know it's a low bar, but I also appreciate that Tharmabar always starts his videos by saying he's going to "share my experience with" the gear in question. I'm much less annoyed when the unverifiable stuff is framed that way.

 

[amirm]

Hans Beekhuyzen Has a good channel as well.

I was going to give you a like until I saw this. As noted, Hans is no better than any other reviewer out there, liking anything he is loaned. His measurement gear is for decoration, not to prove his theories of reduced noise, jitter, etc. that he keeps talking about.

But the rest of your post was on point. Subjective reviewers are on a race to grow their channels and make more money. They have become such obvious informercials. That gets them in trouble when they have to praise something else so yesterday's reviewed product, becomes the thing that is no longer the best.

 

[amirm]

But as you note, he is remarkably consistent in never really explaining anything, and it appears to be because he doesn't know and - crucially - doesn't really want to know.

Reminds me of him getting a question about ASR at a conference. His answer? He must be more right than us because he has more youtube subscribers!

 

[tmtomh]

Reminds me of him getting a question about ASR at a conference. His answer? He must be more right than us because he has more youtube subscribers!

Yikes. Well, I've never been one of them, and if I hadn't already stopped watching any of his videos long ago, that comment would make me stop!

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Guttenberg is obviously the Will Rodgers of You Tube reviewers in that he never met a component he didn't like. That's him for sure. But he often gets first dibs on the choicest new gear, so I use him to put things on my radar. Now I know enough to never take his review at face value, but OTOH, knowing what I know as an audiophile of 47 years, I can tell when he's calling my attention to something I might want to investigate further, so I can't call him completely useless either. And it does help that he not an insufferable jerk like Danny, or a phony grandfather conman like Paul, or a coked out Dennis Hopper imitator in dire need of a steady cam, like we-all-know-who. So I will watch him on occasion to see what's new and exciting out there.

 

[Short38]

The one time I found YouTube useful was when I needed to repair my snow blower. Video provided step by step process to do the repair. Saved $500.

 

[egellings]

Is "wanker" just a sanitized term for "asshole"?

 

[napfkuchen]

My addition to the pile of bs-propagandists: Nemo Propaganda
He strictly rejects measurements and likes to delete comments on his YouTube channel from people who dare to contradict his assessments or even reference reviews with measurements. Look up his review of the Zu Method for example ...

He manages to describe a speaker for 30 minutes using all sorts of flowery terms, selling obvious weaknesses as unique features. His specialty is incorporating numerous alternative products into the review for comparison. The result is a never-ending word salad, without giving the viewer/listener any real objective insight.

 

[egellings]

Old bean!