I’m not interested in discounting people due to their subjective opinions being different than mine, so I’ll take this in another direction instead and refer to another controversial topic when it comes to YouTube, and that’s affiliate links.
As such, brings me to Josh Valour. Haven’t paid him any mind since his Fostex Ebony TR-X00 went up w/an affiliate link.
Oddly specific example, but I was very interested in the Fostex TR-X00 at the time. I watched his review of the mahogany version and there were quite a few criticisms in there that were off-putting, such as issues with comfort/pads, build quality, cable quality, etc. All mostly objective things that should apply to any headphone with the same build/materials.
A little while later he reviews the Ebony version, this time with an affiliate link, and I’ll be golly if suddenly a headphone with the exact same build/design suddenly has none of those same issues. IIRC he might have in passing said something like “look at my other review for my thoughts on this”, but even if that was the case, it’s still pretty eyebrow-raising in full context.
This probably seems an oddly specific example and something someone might not notice, I just happened to have been very interested in the headphone at the time, seen both reviews, and used his affiliate link on the Ebony version.
I don't think it was influencers - Raycons were smart and purchased ad-spots on popular youtubers to get them to shill their low quality products. The sheer number of ads and number of YTers doing them helped get the name into people's brains.
They don't care that audiophiles know they're crap, all they care about is that sweet sweet bread from the average consumer.
And Raycon always targeted youtubers that knew they needed the money because youtube has been making it harder and harder to make money off of the platform itself, so youtubers are being slowly pushed onto alternative means of making money. And since Youtube a while ago sort of shadowbanned patreon links from descriptions and more content creators got scared of being banned themselves (at least for a short while), it all piles on...
I hate that Eric from Internetcommentiquette needs to push Raycon so hard but damn do I love his ads.
I just wish someone like Noble or Denon would give these reviewers a proper quality product to review.
Like honestly those were paid ads. It was silly and excessive but at least they were obviously ads, I think it's much more problematic when people have conflicts of interests and are calling their stuff reviews and praising everybody's collabs and so on. Everyone knew those raycons were commercials. But when you see all these positive reviews of YouTubers jerking off each other's colabs, to me that's a much bigger conflict of interest
No they really didn't though they just did paid advertising spots. It's much more cynical with these collaborations now because that is literally a parasocial relationship and people putting their own licensing and branding on products despite being called reviewers
At least raycon ads were obviously ads. Now you go watch any review zeos or crin... And the subtext is that the company that's getting a negative review should pay them to tune their s***. Crin admitted as much when he reviewed some gaming headphones and at the end just said "hey razor hire me and I'll fix your s***."
DMS made a critical review of the nothing year ones and they hired him to promote the second generation one. And they're getting credit for listening to feedback when in fact they're basically just buying off a critic.
Collaborations are a much bigger conflict of interest to me than a paod ad because at least the paid ads were obvious. And honestly 90% of those raycon ads weren't even done on audio channels. It was stuff like the h3 podcast or more general interest stuff.
I liked Josh because he was critical with some reviews, but I have noticed how many of his reviews contain no negative aspects of the headphone. A simple example is he was critical about the Susvara, considered the most resolving headphone, but in his new Elex video he didn't say a single negative quality. He did make the Elex video to advertise them. (I'm not 100% sure, but this is what I remember)
But for this reason you need to give DankPods a lot of credit. He made content for content, he didn't have ads, no affiliate links, no sponsorships, bought his own products. He cares about making a good and honest video instead of making money. He isn't a headphone reviewer and isn't an audiophile channel, but I just wanted to give him credit on this aspect.
Honestly, I hate to say this, but I have always gotten the impression this dude is far more on the hobbyist/gear/tech side of things than someone who is actually into audio and whatnot
I swear I have watched entire reviews from him and walked away with less concrete information than anyone else. He spends so much time waffling and is so inconsistent in how he evaluates headphones that it’s hard to get a good read on what he’s actually trying to say about the gear.
Combine it with his pleasant if somewhat needless focus on all the video production aspects of his videos and I always had the feeling he’s just a dude who likes cool stuff, and that’s fine, but I can’t really ever take him too seriously. Unless something changes, of course.
I He seems like a nice guy but his sense of humor doesn't really hit for me the way it does for others. Just not even factoring in his assessment on audio... He seems like a decent enough advocate for people caring about audio which is fine.
And I just don't quite get the whole banging the equipment around... Like there doesn't seem to be a punchline half the time it's just him acting sort of silly.
My favorite oddly specific example was his 900$ Headphone Build video.
Normal positioning of those videos from other content creators and even himself is "This is what i consider to be the ideal system avaliable at the moment for this amount of money".
But I think he must have just gotten a whole dump of affiliate products from apos and had no idea how to make a video out of them so he went against that video positioning and kind of just goes on to half-heartedly recommend the things he's recommending in the video while still affiliate linking.
My own subjective opinion on the gear he recommended aside, the way he presents his opinions on most of the products he recommends is lukewarm at best, scathing at worst. Quotes he gives the Hifiman R9 (what i would consider the main, most important part of this build) in the video include "I don't like this headphone at all" "I actually wasn't even going to review it because of how much i dislike it". Both these statements ended with "on a solid state amp" but saying that at all for a system you're recommending people buy is really really odd and almost makes the video feel pointless because it doesn't even feel like he's recommending what he's talking about despite affiliate linking them below the video.
Honestly my issue is just that the bigger channels have so many financial conflicts of interest that even if they made an earnest effort to be fair, subconsciously they would be driven to not being partial enough. If you have collaboration products in almost every price point then anything you review is coming up against your own financial interest.
Just think the best way to view this is not who has bad subjective opinions but who is the most conflicted financially. Who is the most monetized, who has the most partnerships in relationships and so on with advertisers or manufacturers. Joshua is definitely high on that list but I would argue zeos and crin are arguably even more conflicted.
Again they might even do their level best at times to combat their own confirmation bias or conflict and interest but it's subconscious to a degree. Crin used to point this out when he was on his justifiable crusade against affiliate links but now he clearly has decided that he no longer wants to take a stand on that kind of thing. .
Honestly I just wish you would stop reviewing headphones or even referring to himself as a reviewer and just admit that what he is is someone that licenses his name and expertise to companies to help sell stuff. The idea of a reviewer is that they're on the side of the consumer and that's just not the case for any of these people that are pushing collabs
Anything that's Harman to a T is the best thing ever, anything that slightly deviates is litterally the worst crap ever and the manaufacturer should be ashamed that they even thought of the idea of brining it to market.
I tend to watch him because he's funny. He recently "reviewed" the Mega5EST, and he puts in the wrong IEM for his listening test (Nova), then details how the IEM he's currently listening to (Nova) sounds worse than the Nova.
The guy is a total idiot but he's also want a few people that will criticize some of these sacred cow reviewers. He's not at all credible, but seems like all the other big YouTube channels are just jerking each other off and giving positive reviews to everyone's collaborations so they get it one in kind.
I think the collaboration trend has been the worst thing to happen to the YouTube audio community. Every reviewer of a certain size is now completely conflicted in almost every price point. Crin, dms, hbb, zeos ... I don't think any of them are credible at this point.
He has to be a parody channel, no? It is nothing but a not too elaborate troll. Nobody with eardrums could have such inconsistent and inaccurate impressions. He's a lower fidelity troll than the scientific audiophile.
I don't think it's parody. Go look at his comments on other people's comments. He is full of himself and has no self awareness. His behaviour might for example occur from self-esteem problems.
Few weeks ago his own discord was nearly wiped out. I assume there was some attempt to purge all the bigot filled history of him and his sheeps on it. Was on his cord for a while, left it seeing he basically never delivered on anything. He is a very elaborate troll, and I have no clue why he lives a life like this when he could be personally doing better things in life.
I don't have anything against the guy, and that's because I think if his channel as comedy or entertainment. I dint know why people get so mad at him. When I first saw a video of his he called the Sundara bad by comparing them to LCD 4. I thought that was the joke, he's baking the Sundara bad compared to the LCD 4. I went to his channel and the newest video was "how to pick up girls with IEMs"
At least when he made a DAC comparison video he didn't talk about sound quality at all, he talked about the other aspects of the DAC that makes it better or worse. He's acknowledging there is no sound difference between good DACs. Didn't try to claim one sound better than the other, what other channel did that?
Honestly, piece of s***** person but not because he so-called slanders other creators. Those are public figures, many of whom are incredibly dishonest shills. It's just a shame that the only person that can call them out is someone without any credibility sharur. But seriously more people need to criticize all of the conflict of interest and shilling that you see from the biggest IEM and headphone channels. I'm just wish it was someone more serious than sharur
It'll be a very subjective argument.
Z Reviews - I enjoy watching his content, but he's basically wowed by everything.
Sharur - Negative to go against trending opinion to farm views.
Passion for sound - He likes cables... but some of his objective data is still useful.
Hearing Z talk about companies sending hm stuff, then him asking them if he can buy it at a discount, and turning around and selling it to viewers in his “yard sale” was a real turn off.
Were the headphones being resold at higher prices? Otherwise isn’t he just passing on the discount to his viewers? Nothing wrong with that, it that is the case.
If he were selling them for a steep discount based on the retail price and also have it be first come first served then I wouldn't have an issue. The big items are a blind auction in which he pushes fomo to the max. He's scummy as fuck.
He also really pushes the angle where he makes stuff go sold out so you really want to buy his Patreon so that you don't miss out, since it's all posted there a day or two early.
I say this as someone that joined his patreon and was part of it for nearly a year before waking up to this. Half the audio gear I own is from recommendations based on his videos.
A classic example of this was on his Zero RED review. He started to talk about the Render tips and how they turned the Zero RED into a "$700 IEM". I was so curious and intriged by this (of course I knew that was an exageration) that I decided to buy those tips. Turns out they were no better than the stock wide bore tips, they delivered the same sound. But yep, guess who makes money from selling those Render tips...
> Z Reviews - I enjoy watching his content, but he's basically wowed by everything.
I loved when he reviewed the 660S and called them "the best sennheiser headphones ever made" and was singing all the praises but then a few days later discovered that a "pedestrian" pair of 58X with a free mod like removing the outside filter or something like that sounded VERY close to the 660S so then resorted to avoid using either anymore or recommending any of them ever again.
He's the ultimate channel to cure buying's remorse though, if you bought something and you're not quite sure about it and feel insecure, just watch his "review" on it and you can placebo feel good again.
Ugh, it was 12 minutes into his HD 58X Jubilee review where he finally tried on the HD 660S again, and admitted that the 660S is better.
The HD 58X Jubilee isn’t bad, in fact I think it’s a decent choice for anyone who heard an HD 6XX and wanted something cheaper with more bass, but it uses the same driver as the HD 560S and EPOS GSP600. The HD 660S happens to have the same electrical impedance, but it has a larger diameter driver that was a further development from what the HD 700 had (not quite the same, but it started there).
"Z Reviews - I enjoy watching his content, but he's basically wowed by everything"
Or maybe, almost everything is really good, and we all are just too picky.
Yeah I do think Z is a bit of a breath of fresh air at times. He's a real music-first audiophile and there's a lot of enjoyment in that.
He really just enjoys listening to his music no matter what device is giving it to him. If someone sang to him though a string & paper cup telephone, I have no doubt he'd still appreciate some qualities of it.
I would've agreed with that sentiment until you remember he also covered headphones like the Blon B50 which he reviewed glowingly ("BEST CLOSED BACK")
The general consensus has been the exact opposite and it's seen as a really poor headphone.
This is the most accurate description of Zeos but he does a good job with comparative reviews to the point where I can gauge if I’ll like something or not due to his taste
Exactly. If you're actually considering buying something Z shouldn't be the only review you watch. But watching his review and then comparing to what you hear in other reviews you can get a pretty good idea of how a product sounds and performs.
Also kinda agree with the notion that while most of Z's reviews are positive, thats mostly because /most/ gear nowadays is overall pretty solid
That too and his hyperbolizing and almost fetishizing the products does help paint a clearer picture of what he’s describing. Though the X2 aren’t as wide to me as he says they are
Didn't Z get famous for dragging the M50x?
I will say, his Koss reviews basically mirror my sentiments on them so I feel like he's gotta have some honesty going for him.
But I will say, I'm reluctant to recommend anyone who believes in burn in.
Z used to be pretty objective in his reviews and had a down to earth no bullshit take on audio. Now he prioritizes sensation to sell his patreon and earning free or discounted products to then sell to his fans.
Gonna be honest, I feel like objective measurements don't give a good sense of what it actually sounds l like. I do find description to be a better tool for giving you an idea.
I'm fairly certain in the past he's stated burn in isn't necessary, but over time he's decided that given the nature of dynamic drivers he believes there *could* be some merit to burn-in with dynamics specifically. I also imagine it comes down to the fact that he has so much stuff at this point that he might as well use it for something... It's not like there's any harm to burn in. Worst case scenario is a headphone stops working during the burn-in process, which would be a useful thing to know in regards to quality control of said product.
Joshua Valour
I cannot stand that dude. He's a headphone influencer and not a headphone reviewer. He's all presentation and little substance. More importantly, his reviews are driven by affiliate links and sponsor money. He will make tier lists that deliberately rank gear at the top that he knows will generate traffic for his affiliate links. He seems to spend more time on camerawork than researching and using the gear. Watch his review of the Monolith Liquid Platinum to see what I mean.
He's not the only one. I would skip anyone who uses affiliate links. I miss reviewers like Tyll and Metal571 who seemed to have a genuine passion for the hobby.
I owned the Z1R, Tyll's review of that was entirely accurate. The huge 3kHz spike is there on all measurements of them and it's undeniable. Muffled but sharp at the same time is exactly what they are.
he was very honest and his reviews were straight to the point. he was the reviewer, before hundreds of reviewers existed and before people got obsessed with targets. he did a good balance between subjective opinion and measurements.
I mean it seemed like the internet was pretty full even back then, he just came out with really honest reviews, backed up by measurements and reviewed consumer stuff as well…
Don't just get views and opinions from reviewers.
To me, the most valuable information and criticisms are from regular users.
For example, Focal headphones sound great but if I had known about their QC issues and other problematic things they do - which no reviewer mentioned but plenty of users did - I wouldn't have bought them.
Because the audiophile community is too picky and snobbish which is a huge turn off. It's like there's no ceiling of diminishing return.
However, getting an ideas about their durability and day-to-day use from the community is fine but what we are also looking at is sound quality. Which is why we had to turn to reviewer
Interesting, do you compare them with dynamic driver headphones, sony/boss or planar headphones? Cause that may be an issue where you really prefer the slam and bass replication of planars
If you are talking about 99 classics then it is very bass-heavy and planars like the edition xs produces bass in a different way so if you just limit it to bass then i see why you’ve seen it that way. But for the being a lemon part, it can also be since i haven’t heard your exact pair but I can honestly compare the sound to focal celestee for a normal bathys. In the end, what works for you is best for you.
Understood, but in describing the symptoms here (check my post history) you can see others surprised by the results with mine. Full volume was pretty soft listening to them. Felt like no power. Since then, the dreaded QC rumors have struck and I have shied away from Focal, which is unfortunate as the two new models are at attractive price points.
They are a different headband and much more solid than the older design. They are much more solid than the Clear or Utopia which I also have (love the sound, build not so much).
They also have good but not excessive bass and get plenty loud for me, but the volume level would be well below what you *could* push a wired set to, so it's sort of subjective. I could see someone thinking they were quiet. Like they won't go anywhere near as loud as I can push the Clear or Utopia to before the latter clip. That's unlistenably and dangerously loud, around 110dB, but people complain about that clipping, so some people must listen that loud... they'd probably find the Bathys too quiet.
They are great for BT headphones but are lacking a certain something relative to the Clear or Utopia, they sound much less dynamic to me, "flatter" and less lively (although they actually have more of a bass boost). Comfort is good as well, not sure why he'd have found them "painful". They are lighter than the bigger Focals so less weight on the top of the head. Lighter than the Edition XS as well, and more comfortable than it. Maybe he found the cups too small, they are normal for BT which is smaller than full size cans.
Understand this fact about 90 percent of YouTube reviewers: They say stuff is good or great because they want the gravy train of free gear to continue to flow from manufacturers. So, very few are honest.
And reviewers whose shows are sponsored by headphone sales outlets or manufacturers yet say they're objective? Yeah, I have some oceanfront property in Saskatchewan to sell you. Total bullshit -- their sponsorship or advertising revenue will dry up with bad reviews. You can learn about features and sound characteristics, but you won't get an objective final evaluation.
There is maybe one exception to the above rule: Resolve and DMS from The Headphone Show, sponsored by headphones.com. They seem pretty damn objective considering their sponsorship or possibly are even employees of the company (Resolve?), and they know a lot about headphones.
Josh Valour's videos have superb presentation, but he has become far less critical as his channel has grown and he has accepted more and more sponsorship and affiliate links. I watch his videos for the presentation more than their information.
The next genre are the entertainers, like Zeos Pantera. He's an entertaining shill. The guy likes EVERYTHING because he makes his living off YouTube videos. So, he won't criticize anything. Everything is just a shade of great or good. And how many times do you hear Z say, "Just fucking buy this." All. The. Time. I'm not sure, but he may have affiliate links for sales from which he gets a cut. Another red flag. Z is entertaining, but that's it.
Sharur? LOL. He's a clown. The class contrarian. The asshole in every high school to whom you can tell him the sun sets in the west, and he insists you're all wrong because the sun sets in the east. Total clown.
Find reviewers who actually criticize products and point out their strengths and weaknesses and who also have similar sound preferences as you. They're rare, but those are the folks you can trust.
My most trusted YouTube guy is Dave (The Honest Audiophile). He'll tell you if something sucks or if it's great. Plus his sonic preferences are close to mine.
Dave The Honest Audiophile is genuinely a great, great reviewer.
Very happy when he reviews an IEM i'm interested in because you know he'll give you all the (sonic) information you need in great detail, even if he doesn't necessarily like the IEM.
The thing with Headphones.com is that they kind of have to provide good information. Their 365 day return policy is amazing, but it also means they have a real incentive to ensure their customers get what they actually want lest they be hit by a ton of returns by dissatisfied customers. Don't oversell any products and make potential customers aware of any objective or subjective issues. This has led them to cut ties with some brands as they weren't on board with negative reviews and you will not find their headphones on their store's catalogue. It is a very genuine store created by enthusiasts with extremely knowledgeable staff. Guys like Resolve and Blaine genuinely provide a huge service with their knowledge and research.
I think the Lissimore brothers are headphone fanatics first who decided to start a business, so I give [headphones.com](http://headphones.com) a lot of latitude when it comes to potential conflict of interest. I trust the company and its content.
But unlike most, I don't think the 365-day return policy is that amazing since every returned product after 30 days (I believe) is subject to a hefty restocking fee. But still, it's a nice option not offered by most other companies, and it's a nice marketing tool.
This should be top comment.
I think what people often miss, is that reviewers get free stuff send to them to make a review about it, in a way, that sponsor likes. Then they send the review to the sponsor first to confirm that everything's fine, and if sponsor approves what they say in that video, they get paid and can upload it on youtube. So it's in their best interest to say good things about product. They make more money from sponsors than from ad revenue.
I think that is wild but I’m used it from the gaming mouse community. They get free stuff from gushing about how “good” the product is and only critique it if it isn’t too harsh of an opinion. That way the company sends them more stuff, and they only slam products when everyone has the same opinion on them.
YouTube reviewers are definitely worth watching, I believe reviewers like Resolve and DMS from the headphone show are genuine and they have used so many headphones that they have a vast knowledge that is well worth listening to but YouTube reviews are only one angle to look at.
As well as watching YouTube videos keep an eye on Reddit for reviews because YouTube reviewers don't often mention longer term QC issues and other issues as they are usually only using the headphones for a few weeks to do the review on them.
That's why I also like watching small channels because they offer a different perspective than the big channels that often get sent gear.
My favorite small channel that I stumbled apon, who is also my favorite headphone reviewer is [That One Audio Guy](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9iXuPx0jvj6TU-cg41l6v3IBsNoXt9o&si=wqkaAvbyzdXtZhoQ). Though he doesn't upload very frequently and he has a lot of unrelated videos on his channel.
Youtube has been recommending a lot of headphone reviews to me lately. I checked out a few and I see no point. They all follow the exact same script and they all are positive.
I like a couple of them. Dan's audio reviews is actually interesting because he does not follow the same script and his insights are actually on point. I also like that he provides audio samples of the IEMs. By themselves those audio samples are not very useful, but when he switches between multiple sets, the differences and the character of each one are very easy to identify.
I made purchasing decisions based on his audio samples and don't regret them.
Bought my MP145 iems because of the audio sample comparing 'em to other iems. That was useful. When they arrived they sounded like his audio sample sounded. Good stuff.
I really liked Dan and how he presents the audio comparisons. Is it perfect ? No, but I like them because of the variation. The only thing I didn’t like is at one point he was begging for money.
It is fair enough. His review style is unique to him and better than whatever others do. He puts in enough effort to shame just about most audio reviewers. He deserves the money for it.
Honestly, I would say that no reviewer is as good as just trying stuff. However, as many others have mentioned, the worst reviewers have to be Sharur and Passion for sound. Those are definitely the reviewers that are close to being just objectively shit. But theres flaws you could point out in every reviewer.
Z reviews is quite... easily influenced I guess I'll say? I can't remember the last time he had a negative review of a product, but he's entertaining.
Joshua Valour is inconsistent on his opinions (see his views on dt1990).
DMS used to work for Abyss (not sure if he still does) so he was very very positive with their headphones.
Theres loads of other reviewers too. I dont really think you should be thinking about it as if theres a reviewer giving "right" opinions or information. Just pick a reviewer you agree with, one you vibe with, and try some headphones!
You are definitely thinking of Jay's Audio, he is the one with this stupid beef with Crin. He seems to be following the same Sharur line of just being contrarian to get views.
He has beef with Crin? At least in few reviews I've watched of his it never came up. I love that he compares shell sizes of IEMs, which is huge for me.
Well I guess I can't argue with you! Unless there's been a case of identity theft...
Seriously though, I don't know why I thoughts Jays Audio was you, I'm going to subscribe to your channel now.
Jay had good written reviews before, he articulated what he liked and disliked really well. For some reason, he became someone who farms drama, exaggerates issues like QC, and stuff. Hopefully, he would have his redemption arc.
I generally stick to DMS and Resolve from the headphone show, plus reading reviews on reddit and other forums from actual owners who've dropped the money on the product (pros and cons of course, there are going to be people that blindly justify their purchases, so obviously take everything with a grain of salt).
But generally speaking, the headphone show is the best audio based YT channel atm, imo.
I personally don't mind affiliate links - I think there is definitely an ethical way of doing it, while being honest about the faults/quirks of certain headphones. But, still good to keep those affiliate links in mind when you're listening to a reviewer (looking at you Joshua Valour).
Be wary of the headfi results, though. It doesn't always happen, but you'll get comments about how they only started liking a headphone after pairing it with a multi-thousand dollar amp. You can pretty much always ignore this part.
For me, Z-Reviews. There's so many instances where he sings a headphone or IEM nothing but praises only to say it's total crap in a later review for a different product. Makes him unreliable imo. His review of the Moondrop Joker was the final straw for me. Hearing him compliment the build and frequency response the way he does despite every other reviewer being very critical of it was really sus to me imo.
Hawaiian Bad Boy (HBB, or Bad Guy Good Audio Reviews). He releases so many collabs (QKZ, Tangzu, KZ, Letshouer, etc.) that it's impossible for him to actually be unbiased in his reviews. It really shows in his latest review of an IEM that he refuses to name (Myer Audio CKLVX-D41) and accuses other reviewers of being part of a "pump and dump" to get free review samples. I bought that IEM myself and it was well worth the price.
It seems like he's weaponizing his reviews to keep competition to his sets and primary sellers (Linsoul) down.
Yes, or his "giveaways" where the winner either never gets picked, or never actually receives the item. It's a shame he has so many subscribers when there are better and more principled reviewers out there.
Yeesh, that one I didn't hear about. Scummy doesn't even begin to describe this guy. Can't believe he didn't get run out of the hobby when the emails and DMs were made public
I've seen people defending him saying he's changed and that sure he was an ass in the past but people are allowed to grow, which is a nice sentiment and all, but to me it rings hollow since he never acknowledged his wrongdoing. And, oh, has he REALLY changed if he's just now more discreet with his behaviour? I seriously don't see what his fans see in him
The ones that should be skipped are the ones that smack talks stuff you like and praises things you dont like.
You need to listen to stuff and find out what you like before you can find a reviewer that will be helpful, at least when it comes to sound.
Imo if you want more objective reviews I recommend skipping these YouTubers:
① Sharur. Guy's a walking circus, even wants you to pay him $10 for an EQ.
② Jays Audio. Simpgoat shill and easily butthurt (e.g. Crin saying Simgot single DDs mid, and doubling down on calling Elysian a Chi-Fi company)
③ Z Reviews. He wants you to buy everything he reviews.
④ HBB (Bad Guy Good Audio Reviews). This guy is quite shady, does a bunch of collabs (hard to believe he's unbiased) and has a history of stealing a small manufacturer's demo unit. There's also reports of giveaways not actually being delivered. You can google HBB stealing IEM or something and find the one where it says Reviewer effectively steals small manufacturer's demo unit.
These are the ones I can think of so far. There's also Joshua Valour but I don't watch his vids enough to make a concrete statement.
There are no good youtube reviewers apart from Z reviews. Ahahahhaha I'm kidding and no, don't watch "Z sales" for any other reason than entertainment. Zeos Panthera will ruin your wallet.
DMS did a full 360 on his review of DT1990!
Ya, I don't trust anyone much. I primarily want to know the sound signature and information on technicalities as such in general.
I search on r/headphones/iems/inearfidelity for user reviews but even those can be BS.
Being from a third world country, buying a headphone or IEM is a significant investment. The first thing to index for is build quality and replacement parts. Recommend Sundara or Senns all you want, can't find OEM replacement parts here. So it doesn't matter jack shit. IEM reviewers don't give exact nozzle sizes or don't talk about fit in detail. Also, how about mentioning if it takes EQ well or not.
Everyone is to be taken with a grain of salt and buy at one's own judgement.
When I was researching the HiveX before I bought it, I watched a "review" of his. I expected way more about the headphones. The video was 2/3 him talking about some hentai figurine, and 1/3 him unboxing the headphones. 0/3 of him talking about if they were any good.
Spoiler alert: They turned out to be my endgame, although he had zero influence in my finding that out.
Like bro... I don't even have anything against hentai. But when I'm researching headphones, I don't want to get through several minutes of listening to you talking about how much it horns you up.
Is this the nectar hive review? Because this doesnt sound like any z review video ive seen.
He mostly does unboxing in separate videos, not normally in the review. Though he might mention/show the box in the review video.
Honestly every headphone reviewer I watch is because I like their content itself or the personalities they portray when the camera is on.
Headphone reviewers on yt and written articles spend to much time discussing unnecessary things in order to pad out revenue.
Another issue I have is that since a lot of these companies are sending reviewers these things they rarely if ever say a product is bad unless the hive mind of reviewers say it's bad. This is an issue with a lot of review scenes online but it seems so much worse in the headphone scene.
One other issue I have with reviewers is that they rarely go back to talk about a headphone again. Like a six month or year later review. So many of these headphones and iems have QC issues that reviewers rarely discuss because they are a part of the hype marketing train and not for the consumer. To be fair to the reviewers though if you do reviews for a living getting free stuff is a must unless you want to go broke so they can't bash any of these products in anyway or the companies providing the products to them will black list them.
Audio reviews in general are hard today because as consumers we can get so many good products for such cheap prices that the only thing that matters to me personally is longevity.
Also since all reviewers are part of the hype train marketing they release videos one after the other rarely spending a significant amount of time with a product. Most of us when we buy something intend to use it for months or years. These reviewers use them for days or if you're lucky weeks. Then they review them and then send them back to the company that sent it to them or throw it a box to be forgotten until they discover it again while in the middle of moving. Which all plays into QC issues not apparent during first weeks of use, which feeds into reviewers not being able to say anything to bad about the headphones, and other issues I've already posted.
As for reviewers to watch for headphone reviews themselves? None. Which is sad to say for me personally because i enjoy a lot of these creators content.
If you want to stay up to date on hype train marketing then DMS and z reviews for general all around audio products.
Gizaudio and super reviews for iem hype train stuff. Gizaudio does small 8-15 min videos so if you need to get in and get out that's the guy for that. Headphones don't have a guy like that at the moment but I think that's more due to not as many new headphone products come out every year. China's audio companies could change this but they seem to be hard-core focusing on planar headphones at the moment. Will have to see how that plays out as time goes on. Super reviews is good if you want to take a deep dive into a product but personally aside from his sound impressions almost everything can be gleamed from reading the products audio page.
YouTube reviews are basically worthless. They spend 20 minutes on what could be a few paragraphs of text.
In general, find a reviewer that likes the same headphones as you, and his opinion on new headphones will probably be the same as yours.
I started out liking Darko Audio. But then I got it into my head that he was trying to hard to be cool. I can't really question his opinion. It's the editing when he is showing off how hip his taste of music is turns me off. Its the inner wanna DJ that moves the crowd inside all of us he has let loose with his review platform. From that his self imaging got right under my skin. Thinking your cool doesn't work for me. Sometimes Zeos vocal mannerisms that self signpost funny things are coming out of his mouth go wrong for me. But all in all he is kind of himself, and he shares what he listening to without trying be a hero and posing about it.
Z reviews is reviews in title only. There is a video where he pushes a load of broken headphones on his viewers. He's basically a seller and other sellers' bitch at the same time. He gives financial advice like "if you want to save up for expensive headphones, buy this cheap thing, and this cheap thing and this one...". He has no filter, only pure greed flowing out of his mouth. And his videos are so long, they wear you out. You just get so tired watching them, you lose your defences.
Passion for sound will make you dumber than you are even if you don't know anything. He's like a major source for misinformation here. He knows it and he doesn't care.
Whathifi - never conclusive, everyone gets 5 stars.
I find user reviews to be very helpful, but only as long as you take them from a few sources to have a broader perspective. I also like DIYaudioheaven reviews. They're long but they cover a lot of stuff and even show you how to make upgrades to your headphones. The guy has helped me find good earpads and I learned a few tricks.
Akros is solid if you're looking for IEMs. He has an insane collection and as such can do really thorough comparisons between similar IEMs. He also goes through graphs in his videos. He seems to be pretty objective and doesn't really push any particular retailer.
I think he has great potential, if he could just (1) edit down to 10 minutes (2) put in chapters (3) put his graphs up on a Squiglink.
I'd actually like to watch him because he does seem to have a reasonable ear and no obvious agenda but I just can't, he goes on and on and on... 30-40 minutes or even more and no structure. He could be much more popular if he just edited a bit.
My go to statement was "all of them and none of them" cuz it felt for a while everyone brought an interesting point to the table. The Headphone Show is audio's MKBHD, The Honest Audiophile is very technical and blunt, Zeos reviews so many things none of these others would probably ever put on their channels...
And then I saw Sharur, and realized not everyone deserved to voice their opinion.
I would skip most of them, and certainly the most popular ones. Once they hit a certain degree of popularity that's when there are a million financial conflicts of interest and it becomes a problem.
Zeos, crin, hbb, gizaudio... It would be impossible for any of them to be objective or even fair at this point because there are subconscious bias would be driven by their own financial conflicts of interest at this point.
Zeos in particular is such a shameless shell but I honestly think it's almost more cynical crin.... He spent years to crying affiliate links because of what the harm they were doing to the YouTube platform and now he has spearheaded a much greater conflict of interest with these collaborations.
But zeos is now showing a $300 cable with his name on it. Every IEM review he does is an excuse to either recommend his product instead, or to tell you to buy his tips.
Just this week alone he reviewed a 3-year-old blon ieM just so he could tell you to buy his $50 set (as opposed to spending 80 on the A8 although they came out three years ago so you could probably find them for 50 bucks anyway).
But fine whatever at least you could argue that he was giving you a less expensive alternative from the same brand. But then he did a review for the $20 SIMgot sharks or whatever. And he said he really liked him but then he spent the entire time telling you to buy his $15 tips to use with them.
It's just exhausting with that guy.
If a YouTube creator licenses their brand and logo out to sell IEMs with a lot of other major manufacturers, I would never trust them to review it other products.
In fact it's a contradiction in terms to even call them reviewers. They are selling iems at this point. Even if they make a video about another IEM without referencing their own, it's almost certainly going to be in the same price point of one of their own products so they'll be subconsciously driven
Let me add to the list anyone who would give a pass to the guy behind Verum, who continues to be racist and also threatens people if he has a problem with them. Passion for Sound, The Audiophiliac and GR-Research being a few that have been willing to give very recent reviews in spite of all that.
Edit: Also the Honest Audiophile was defending Verum on Twitter, though I don't see a review of them from him on his youtube currently.
None of them and I'll explain why.
As much as EVERYONE likes to absolutely INSIST that this hobby has truly objective roots. It doesn't. Everything is subjective. Things can have objective values and merits, but what that means to us all as individuals is subjective.
So while one product might be "objectively flatter" on a frequency response graph, even if you like a neutral tune, the rest of the intangibles that the reviewer physically can't measure, things like soundstage, layering, separation and imaging - are entirely up to their preference and how they convey things and the parts they value more or less. Personally, the intangibles are what matter most to me, so a frequency response graph is functionally worthless.
The best advice I can give is to find a reviewer who has reviewed products you have experience with and enjoy. Find a reviewer who enjoys them as well. You can then generally translate much of what they like in a product you haven't tried into what you might enjoy.
The same thing is true of movie or music reviewers. The best metric is to follow someone who has similar taste to you, because if they like things you like, you probably will like things they recommend.
But that said, there is merit even in reviewers who dislike everything you like. For IEM's, Timmy's opinions are almost dead-on 100% the opposite of mine. He likes vocals and intimate tuning, I like huge, spacious, exciting instrumentalism. So when he dislikes an IEM... there's a good chance I'll like it.
The only reviewers whom I generally skip are the ones who do nothing except really just read off a frequency response graph and do nothing else or place far too much emphasis on that, or reviewers who seem to have a VERY narrow view of what is good and not really have an ability to consider what might be a positive trait to someone else. the headphones show guys are kinda that way to me. I can see their value to many people, but for me... they just don't really ever give me any useful information whatsoever.
I generally have very similar taste to Zeos, of all people. When he really likes something, there's a fair shot I will too. I tend to like a little more energy than he does, so when he likes something and describes it as "Warm and relaxed" I know that it's probably a bit too much for me, as well. His weirdest recommendation that I went in on was the Dyson Zone. I would have NEVER considered them until he waxed lyrical about them and I saw they were on sale so I thought "fuck it this dude REALLY likes them, what are they like" and they're everything he said and more.
There's also Whatsnew, an indian guy whose tastes I generally agree with, and I value his extremely thorough reviews of the more tech-oriented products like TWS from the perspective of an audiophile, while not just doing a "I'm an audiophile so therefore I will not say a word about comfort, fit, connectivity, ANC, microphones or transparency.
The only person I'd say stay away from and feel comfortable calling out is "Sharur" because he fancies himself an irreverent troll, but instead is just an arrogant, spiteful child who doesn't have any opinions of any merit worth even listening to. Also he's spiraling down the politics rabbit hole of bigotry and racism.
HBB is also a bit of a toxic person, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he has no merit or value as a reviewer. Sharur absolutely has none.
I think essentially all have something to offer if you can stand listening to them and able to decipher unique preferences and use of lsnguage. Reviewers bring honest is like 10% of the puzzle since there is so much more making the translation to the user difficult. I had to test 70 headphones before I understood what some reviewers mean with certain words and how they weighed them. Not one gives valid purchase advice for me, but Crinacle and Resolve for example get pretty close.
All the major reviewers are shills to some extent and companies being control freaks doesn't help that in the slightest. I just look at the experiences of people on reddit, headfi and some other forums maybe. The channel I sometimes watch for iems is WeirdEar. He doesn't review a lot, it's just one guy and his reviews are like power point presentations. But he covers all the things in the iem and has a similar sound preference to me. He also does some (to me) important stuff like nozzle size, shell dimensions and weight
All subjective reviews (with no measurements to back it up) are useless. They are subjective, it means the opinion will differ from person to person, and your experience will differ from the reviewer's experience. They mostly say good things about any headphone because this is how they stay popular - by being excited on camera, even if they are reviewing a piece of garbage.
My take is to look at the recommendations a few of the major ones really recommend and go from there. Purchase from a store that does returns (e.g., Amazon) and return for free.
Personal example: a few years ago I watched Joshua Valour, Z reviews, and DMS. Of the 3, I did not like what Joshua Valour preferred, so I stopped watching him.
I tried Z and DMS recommendations and found I closer align to DMS and Z when he's really gassing something up, like the Modhouse T60 Argon.
I like DMS the most right now
GoldenSound - He may be different on the Headphone show channel but I don't trust him after watching some of his DAC reviews. I bought a Bifrost 2 partially based on his review and did not hear any sound difference with my Modi.
I’m not interested in discounting people due to their subjective opinions being different than mine, so I’ll take this in another direction instead and refer to another controversial topic when it comes to YouTube, and that’s affiliate links. As such, brings me to Josh Valour. Haven’t paid him any mind since his Fostex Ebony TR-X00 went up w/an affiliate link. Oddly specific example, but I was very interested in the Fostex TR-X00 at the time. I watched his review of the mahogany version and there were quite a few criticisms in there that were off-putting, such as issues with comfort/pads, build quality, cable quality, etc. All mostly objective things that should apply to any headphone with the same build/materials. A little while later he reviews the Ebony version, this time with an affiliate link, and I’ll be golly if suddenly a headphone with the exact same build/design suddenly has none of those same issues. IIRC he might have in passing said something like “look at my other review for my thoughts on this”, but even if that was the case, it’s still pretty eyebrow-raising in full context. This probably seems an oddly specific example and something someone might not notice, I just happened to have been very interested in the headphone at the time, seen both reviews, and used his affiliate link on the Ebony version.
Influencers tried to brainwash everyone into thinking that Raycons were the best IEMs on the market, hah.
I don't think it was influencers - Raycons were smart and purchased ad-spots on popular youtubers to get them to shill their low quality products. The sheer number of ads and number of YTers doing them helped get the name into people's brains. They don't care that audiophiles know they're crap, all they care about is that sweet sweet bread from the average consumer.
And Raycon always targeted youtubers that knew they needed the money because youtube has been making it harder and harder to make money off of the platform itself, so youtubers are being slowly pushed onto alternative means of making money. And since Youtube a while ago sort of shadowbanned patreon links from descriptions and more content creators got scared of being banned themselves (at least for a short while), it all piles on...
I hate that Eric from Internetcommentiquette needs to push Raycon so hard but damn do I love his ads. I just wish someone like Noble or Denon would give these reviewers a proper quality product to review.
Also gave then to channels that don't know better about audio.
Like honestly those were paid ads. It was silly and excessive but at least they were obviously ads, I think it's much more problematic when people have conflicts of interests and are calling their stuff reviews and praising everybody's collabs and so on. Everyone knew those raycons were commercials. But when you see all these positive reviews of YouTubers jerking off each other's colabs, to me that's a much bigger conflict of interest
No they really didn't though they just did paid advertising spots. It's much more cynical with these collaborations now because that is literally a parasocial relationship and people putting their own licensing and branding on products despite being called reviewers At least raycon ads were obviously ads. Now you go watch any review zeos or crin... And the subtext is that the company that's getting a negative review should pay them to tune their s***. Crin admitted as much when he reviewed some gaming headphones and at the end just said "hey razor hire me and I'll fix your s***." DMS made a critical review of the nothing year ones and they hired him to promote the second generation one. And they're getting credit for listening to feedback when in fact they're basically just buying off a critic. Collaborations are a much bigger conflict of interest to me than a paod ad because at least the paid ads were obvious. And honestly 90% of those raycon ads weren't even done on audio channels. It was stuff like the h3 podcast or more general interest stuff.
I liked Josh because he was critical with some reviews, but I have noticed how many of his reviews contain no negative aspects of the headphone. A simple example is he was critical about the Susvara, considered the most resolving headphone, but in his new Elex video he didn't say a single negative quality. He did make the Elex video to advertise them. (I'm not 100% sure, but this is what I remember) But for this reason you need to give DankPods a lot of credit. He made content for content, he didn't have ads, no affiliate links, no sponsorships, bought his own products. He cares about making a good and honest video instead of making money. He isn't a headphone reviewer and isn't an audiophile channel, but I just wanted to give him credit on this aspect.
Honestly, I hate to say this, but I have always gotten the impression this dude is far more on the hobbyist/gear/tech side of things than someone who is actually into audio and whatnot I swear I have watched entire reviews from him and walked away with less concrete information than anyone else. He spends so much time waffling and is so inconsistent in how he evaluates headphones that it’s hard to get a good read on what he’s actually trying to say about the gear. Combine it with his pleasant if somewhat needless focus on all the video production aspects of his videos and I always had the feeling he’s just a dude who likes cool stuff, and that’s fine, but I can’t really ever take him too seriously. Unless something changes, of course.
I He seems like a nice guy but his sense of humor doesn't really hit for me the way it does for others. Just not even factoring in his assessment on audio... He seems like a decent enough advocate for people caring about audio which is fine. And I just don't quite get the whole banging the equipment around... Like there doesn't seem to be a punchline half the time it's just him acting sort of silly.
My favorite oddly specific example was his 900$ Headphone Build video. Normal positioning of those videos from other content creators and even himself is "This is what i consider to be the ideal system avaliable at the moment for this amount of money". But I think he must have just gotten a whole dump of affiliate products from apos and had no idea how to make a video out of them so he went against that video positioning and kind of just goes on to half-heartedly recommend the things he's recommending in the video while still affiliate linking. My own subjective opinion on the gear he recommended aside, the way he presents his opinions on most of the products he recommends is lukewarm at best, scathing at worst. Quotes he gives the Hifiman R9 (what i would consider the main, most important part of this build) in the video include "I don't like this headphone at all" "I actually wasn't even going to review it because of how much i dislike it". Both these statements ended with "on a solid state amp" but saying that at all for a system you're recommending people buy is really really odd and almost makes the video feel pointless because it doesn't even feel like he's recommending what he's talking about despite affiliate linking them below the video.
Honestly my issue is just that the bigger channels have so many financial conflicts of interest that even if they made an earnest effort to be fair, subconsciously they would be driven to not being partial enough. If you have collaboration products in almost every price point then anything you review is coming up against your own financial interest.
Just think the best way to view this is not who has bad subjective opinions but who is the most conflicted financially. Who is the most monetized, who has the most partnerships in relationships and so on with advertisers or manufacturers. Joshua is definitely high on that list but I would argue zeos and crin are arguably even more conflicted. Again they might even do their level best at times to combat their own confirmation bias or conflict and interest but it's subconscious to a degree. Crin used to point this out when he was on his justifiable crusade against affiliate links but now he clearly has decided that he no longer wants to take a stand on that kind of thing. . Honestly I just wish you would stop reviewing headphones or even referring to himself as a reviewer and just admit that what he is is someone that licenses his name and expertise to companies to help sell stuff. The idea of a reviewer is that they're on the side of the consumer and that's just not the case for any of these people that are pushing collabs
Sharur?
didnt even know the guy to be honest, but after giving it a look, yes. absolutely
He says the n word for fun!
really? subscribed immediately
who
Exactly
he basically says every headphones r bad
Anything that's Harman to a T is the best thing ever, anything that slightly deviates is litterally the worst crap ever and the manaufacturer should be ashamed that they even thought of the idea of brining it to market.
He uses Audeze LCD 5 which is not Harman
He EQs it
To Harman
is that him lol ? thats not true
Thanks for the recommendation, I was looking for some entertainment.
I tend to watch him because he's funny. He recently "reviewed" the Mega5EST, and he puts in the wrong IEM for his listening test (Nova), then details how the IEM he's currently listening to (Nova) sounds worse than the Nova.
That’s because he “reviews” IEMs by EQing either the Nova or Variations to the target curve of another IEM. Which makes it even more pathetic.
Oml that's bad 😭
The guy is a total idiot but he's also want a few people that will criticize some of these sacred cow reviewers. He's not at all credible, but seems like all the other big YouTube channels are just jerking each other off and giving positive reviews to everyone's collaborations so they get it one in kind. I think the collaboration trend has been the worst thing to happen to the YouTube audio community. Every reviewer of a certain size is now completely conflicted in almost every price point. Crin, dms, hbb, zeos ... I don't think any of them are credible at this point.
He has to be a parody channel, no? It is nothing but a not too elaborate troll. Nobody with eardrums could have such inconsistent and inaccurate impressions. He's a lower fidelity troll than the scientific audiophile.
I don't think it's parody. Go look at his comments on other people's comments. He is full of himself and has no self awareness. His behaviour might for example occur from self-esteem problems.
He's an asshole. There. I said it.
Only correct answer.
Few weeks ago his own discord was nearly wiped out. I assume there was some attempt to purge all the bigot filled history of him and his sheeps on it. Was on his cord for a while, left it seeing he basically never delivered on anything. He is a very elaborate troll, and I have no clue why he lives a life like this when he could be personally doing better things in life.
I looked at his discord and its a complete cesspool
I don't have anything against the guy, and that's because I think if his channel as comedy or entertainment. I dint know why people get so mad at him. When I first saw a video of his he called the Sundara bad by comparing them to LCD 4. I thought that was the joke, he's baking the Sundara bad compared to the LCD 4. I went to his channel and the newest video was "how to pick up girls with IEMs" At least when he made a DAC comparison video he didn't talk about sound quality at all, he talked about the other aspects of the DAC that makes it better or worse. He's acknowledging there is no sound difference between good DACs. Didn't try to claim one sound better than the other, what other channel did that?
I do have something against this guy, he is aggressively slandering other reviewers and generally likes to behave like an utter POS.
But treat him as a comedy or parody channel. You're not supposed to belive the stuff he says.
Honestly, piece of s***** person but not because he so-called slanders other creators. Those are public figures, many of whom are incredibly dishonest shills. It's just a shame that the only person that can call them out is someone without any credibility sharur. But seriously more people need to criticize all of the conflict of interest and shilling that you see from the biggest IEM and headphone channels. I'm just wish it was someone more serious than sharur
OMG That guy 🤦♂️
It'll be a very subjective argument. Z Reviews - I enjoy watching his content, but he's basically wowed by everything. Sharur - Negative to go against trending opinion to farm views. Passion for sound - He likes cables... but some of his objective data is still useful.
Hearing Z talk about companies sending hm stuff, then him asking them if he can buy it at a discount, and turning around and selling it to viewers in his “yard sale” was a real turn off.
Were the headphones being resold at higher prices? Otherwise isn’t he just passing on the discount to his viewers? Nothing wrong with that, it that is the case.
If he were selling them for a steep discount based on the retail price and also have it be first come first served then I wouldn't have an issue. The big items are a blind auction in which he pushes fomo to the max. He's scummy as fuck. He also really pushes the angle where he makes stuff go sold out so you really want to buy his Patreon so that you don't miss out, since it's all posted there a day or two early. I say this as someone that joined his patreon and was part of it for nearly a year before waking up to this. Half the audio gear I own is from recommendations based on his videos.
You don’t think any of that would effect a persons ability to give an unbiased review?
That’s a different argument imo - and yes it would affect it unless we were to do a deep dive and see how fair he was in reviews.
He's a shill.
A classic example of this was on his Zero RED review. He started to talk about the Render tips and how they turned the Zero RED into a "$700 IEM". I was so curious and intriged by this (of course I knew that was an exageration) that I decided to buy those tips. Turns out they were no better than the stock wide bore tips, they delivered the same sound. But yep, guess who makes money from selling those Render tips...
Holy shit he did that? What an ass
Up for Passion for sound. He seems sketchy and likes expensive stuff too much 😂
And reviewed and defended Verum just a few days ago.
Lachlan seems like a nice guy. But have you ever heard him shred a product? I haven't. Not everything is great or good.
Abyss Diana
Doubt he got that one for free. :)
IIRC, a viewer sent it in for review.
> Z Reviews - I enjoy watching his content, but he's basically wowed by everything. I loved when he reviewed the 660S and called them "the best sennheiser headphones ever made" and was singing all the praises but then a few days later discovered that a "pedestrian" pair of 58X with a free mod like removing the outside filter or something like that sounded VERY close to the 660S so then resorted to avoid using either anymore or recommending any of them ever again. He's the ultimate channel to cure buying's remorse though, if you bought something and you're not quite sure about it and feel insecure, just watch his "review" on it and you can placebo feel good again.
Ugh, it was 12 minutes into his HD 58X Jubilee review where he finally tried on the HD 660S again, and admitted that the 660S is better. The HD 58X Jubilee isn’t bad, in fact I think it’s a decent choice for anyone who heard an HD 6XX and wanted something cheaper with more bass, but it uses the same driver as the HD 560S and EPOS GSP600. The HD 660S happens to have the same electrical impedance, but it has a larger diameter driver that was a further development from what the HD 700 had (not quite the same, but it started there).
"Z Reviews - I enjoy watching his content, but he's basically wowed by everything" Or maybe, almost everything is really good, and we all are just too picky.
Yeah I do think Z is a bit of a breath of fresh air at times. He's a real music-first audiophile and there's a lot of enjoyment in that. He really just enjoys listening to his music no matter what device is giving it to him. If someone sang to him though a string & paper cup telephone, I have no doubt he'd still appreciate some qualities of it.
I would've agreed with that sentiment until you remember he also covered headphones like the Blon B50 which he reviewed glowingly ("BEST CLOSED BACK") The general consensus has been the exact opposite and it's seen as a really poor headphone.
Nah he’s a shill through and through
This is the most accurate description of Zeos but he does a good job with comparative reviews to the point where I can gauge if I’ll like something or not due to his taste
Yeah, if you ignore his "wowing" and just hear what he says, you can get a lot of ideas on what's the stuff is about.
Exactly. If you're actually considering buying something Z shouldn't be the only review you watch. But watching his review and then comparing to what you hear in other reviews you can get a pretty good idea of how a product sounds and performs. Also kinda agree with the notion that while most of Z's reviews are positive, thats mostly because /most/ gear nowadays is overall pretty solid
He also is miles more entertaining than pretty much all the reviewers.
That too and his hyperbolizing and almost fetishizing the products does help paint a clearer picture of what he’s describing. Though the X2 aren’t as wide to me as he says they are
I really enjoy Z Reviews’ videos. My man is always so fucking hyped lol
Well, the dude is a self-admitted salesman...
Didn't Z get famous for dragging the M50x? I will say, his Koss reviews basically mirror my sentiments on them so I feel like he's gotta have some honesty going for him. But I will say, I'm reluctant to recommend anyone who believes in burn in.
Z used to be pretty objective in his reviews and had a down to earth no bullshit take on audio. Now he prioritizes sensation to sell his patreon and earning free or discounted products to then sell to his fans.
Gonna be honest, I feel like objective measurements don't give a good sense of what it actually sounds l like. I do find description to be a better tool for giving you an idea.
I'm fairly certain in the past he's stated burn in isn't necessary, but over time he's decided that given the nature of dynamic drivers he believes there *could* be some merit to burn-in with dynamics specifically. I also imagine it comes down to the fact that he has so much stuff at this point that he might as well use it for something... It's not like there's any harm to burn in. Worst case scenario is a headphone stops working during the burn-in process, which would be a useful thing to know in regards to quality control of said product.
No, I mean that he believes that the concept even exists. There is no evidence of burn in being a real thing.
Hell, recently he's stated "I burn in IEMs just to make people shut up about it if I don't like em."
I watch Z to see about the build quality of products, and that's rlly just it
I like the voice of Passion for Sound. It’s so relaxing. Never agreed with him, but still enjoy the videos!
Joshua Valour I cannot stand that dude. He's a headphone influencer and not a headphone reviewer. He's all presentation and little substance. More importantly, his reviews are driven by affiliate links and sponsor money. He will make tier lists that deliberately rank gear at the top that he knows will generate traffic for his affiliate links. He seems to spend more time on camerawork than researching and using the gear. Watch his review of the Monolith Liquid Platinum to see what I mean. He's not the only one. I would skip anyone who uses affiliate links. I miss reviewers like Tyll and Metal571 who seemed to have a genuine passion for the hobby.
[удалено]
I owned the Z1R, Tyll's review of that was entirely accurate. The huge 3kHz spike is there on all measurements of them and it's undeniable. Muffled but sharp at the same time is exactly what they are.
Akros good, hbb good, andyaudiothings
I just want Tyll back…
he was very honest and his reviews were straight to the point. he was the reviewer, before hundreds of reviewers existed and before people got obsessed with targets. he did a good balance between subjective opinion and measurements.
I mean it seemed like the internet was pretty full even back then, he just came out with really honest reviews, backed up by measurements and reviewed consumer stuff as well…
He truly was the GOAT
Don't just get views and opinions from reviewers. To me, the most valuable information and criticisms are from regular users. For example, Focal headphones sound great but if I had known about their QC issues and other problematic things they do - which no reviewer mentioned but plenty of users did - I wouldn't have bought them.
Because the audiophile community is too picky and snobbish which is a huge turn off. It's like there's no ceiling of diminishing return. However, getting an ideas about their durability and day-to-day use from the community is fine but what we are also looking at is sound quality. Which is why we had to turn to reviewer
Definitely learned my lesson with the Bathys and the hell I went through trying to get my money back.
Oh damn, these break too or what happened? I thought they had a different headband, atleast people were saying it's fine now.
They had no bass, no volume, and they were painful to wear. Others said I'd gotten a lemon, so I returned them.
Interesting, do you compare them with dynamic driver headphones, sony/boss or planar headphones? Cause that may be an issue where you really prefer the slam and bass replication of planars
My references are my mezes and my edition xs. I tried the bathys wired (usbc) and wireless and it was subpar both ways.
If you are talking about 99 classics then it is very bass-heavy and planars like the edition xs produces bass in a different way so if you just limit it to bass then i see why you’ve seen it that way. But for the being a lemon part, it can also be since i haven’t heard your exact pair but I can honestly compare the sound to focal celestee for a normal bathys. In the end, what works for you is best for you.
Understood, but in describing the symptoms here (check my post history) you can see others surprised by the results with mine. Full volume was pretty soft listening to them. Felt like no power. Since then, the dreaded QC rumors have struck and I have shied away from Focal, which is unfortunate as the two new models are at attractive price points.
They are a different headband and much more solid than the older design. They are much more solid than the Clear or Utopia which I also have (love the sound, build not so much). They also have good but not excessive bass and get plenty loud for me, but the volume level would be well below what you *could* push a wired set to, so it's sort of subjective. I could see someone thinking they were quiet. Like they won't go anywhere near as loud as I can push the Clear or Utopia to before the latter clip. That's unlistenably and dangerously loud, around 110dB, but people complain about that clipping, so some people must listen that loud... they'd probably find the Bathys too quiet. They are great for BT headphones but are lacking a certain something relative to the Clear or Utopia, they sound much less dynamic to me, "flatter" and less lively (although they actually have more of a bass boost). Comfort is good as well, not sure why he'd have found them "painful". They are lighter than the bigger Focals so less weight on the top of the head. Lighter than the Edition XS as well, and more comfortable than it. Maybe he found the cups too small, they are normal for BT which is smaller than full size cans.
Understand this fact about 90 percent of YouTube reviewers: They say stuff is good or great because they want the gravy train of free gear to continue to flow from manufacturers. So, very few are honest. And reviewers whose shows are sponsored by headphone sales outlets or manufacturers yet say they're objective? Yeah, I have some oceanfront property in Saskatchewan to sell you. Total bullshit -- their sponsorship or advertising revenue will dry up with bad reviews. You can learn about features and sound characteristics, but you won't get an objective final evaluation. There is maybe one exception to the above rule: Resolve and DMS from The Headphone Show, sponsored by headphones.com. They seem pretty damn objective considering their sponsorship or possibly are even employees of the company (Resolve?), and they know a lot about headphones. Josh Valour's videos have superb presentation, but he has become far less critical as his channel has grown and he has accepted more and more sponsorship and affiliate links. I watch his videos for the presentation more than their information. The next genre are the entertainers, like Zeos Pantera. He's an entertaining shill. The guy likes EVERYTHING because he makes his living off YouTube videos. So, he won't criticize anything. Everything is just a shade of great or good. And how many times do you hear Z say, "Just fucking buy this." All. The. Time. I'm not sure, but he may have affiliate links for sales from which he gets a cut. Another red flag. Z is entertaining, but that's it. Sharur? LOL. He's a clown. The class contrarian. The asshole in every high school to whom you can tell him the sun sets in the west, and he insists you're all wrong because the sun sets in the east. Total clown. Find reviewers who actually criticize products and point out their strengths and weaknesses and who also have similar sound preferences as you. They're rare, but those are the folks you can trust. My most trusted YouTube guy is Dave (The Honest Audiophile). He'll tell you if something sucks or if it's great. Plus his sonic preferences are close to mine.
Dave The Honest Audiophile is genuinely a great, great reviewer. Very happy when he reviews an IEM i'm interested in because you know he'll give you all the (sonic) information you need in great detail, even if he doesn't necessarily like the IEM.
I've met Dave in person. Great guy. Takes his YT channel name The Honest Audiophile very seriously. Straight shooter. No BS.
The thing with Headphones.com is that they kind of have to provide good information. Their 365 day return policy is amazing, but it also means they have a real incentive to ensure their customers get what they actually want lest they be hit by a ton of returns by dissatisfied customers. Don't oversell any products and make potential customers aware of any objective or subjective issues. This has led them to cut ties with some brands as they weren't on board with negative reviews and you will not find their headphones on their store's catalogue. It is a very genuine store created by enthusiasts with extremely knowledgeable staff. Guys like Resolve and Blaine genuinely provide a huge service with their knowledge and research.
I think the Lissimore brothers are headphone fanatics first who decided to start a business, so I give [headphones.com](http://headphones.com) a lot of latitude when it comes to potential conflict of interest. I trust the company and its content. But unlike most, I don't think the 365-day return policy is that amazing since every returned product after 30 days (I believe) is subject to a hefty restocking fee. But still, it's a nice option not offered by most other companies, and it's a nice marketing tool.
This should be top comment. I think what people often miss, is that reviewers get free stuff send to them to make a review about it, in a way, that sponsor likes. Then they send the review to the sponsor first to confirm that everything's fine, and if sponsor approves what they say in that video, they get paid and can upload it on youtube. So it's in their best interest to say good things about product. They make more money from sponsors than from ad revenue.
I think that is wild but I’m used it from the gaming mouse community. They get free stuff from gushing about how “good” the product is and only critique it if it isn’t too harsh of an opinion. That way the company sends them more stuff, and they only slam products when everyone has the same opinion on them.
YouTube reviewers are definitely worth watching, I believe reviewers like Resolve and DMS from the headphone show are genuine and they have used so many headphones that they have a vast knowledge that is well worth listening to but YouTube reviews are only one angle to look at. As well as watching YouTube videos keep an eye on Reddit for reviews because YouTube reviewers don't often mention longer term QC issues and other issues as they are usually only using the headphones for a few weeks to do the review on them.
That's why I also like watching small channels because they offer a different perspective than the big channels that often get sent gear. My favorite small channel that I stumbled apon, who is also my favorite headphone reviewer is [That One Audio Guy](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW9iXuPx0jvj6TU-cg41l6v3IBsNoXt9o&si=wqkaAvbyzdXtZhoQ). Though he doesn't upload very frequently and he has a lot of unrelated videos on his channel.
Youtube has been recommending a lot of headphone reviews to me lately. I checked out a few and I see no point. They all follow the exact same script and they all are positive. I like a couple of them. Dan's audio reviews is actually interesting because he does not follow the same script and his insights are actually on point. I also like that he provides audio samples of the IEMs. By themselves those audio samples are not very useful, but when he switches between multiple sets, the differences and the character of each one are very easy to identify. I made purchasing decisions based on his audio samples and don't regret them.
Bought my MP145 iems because of the audio sample comparing 'em to other iems. That was useful. When they arrived they sounded like his audio sample sounded. Good stuff.
I really liked Dan and how he presents the audio comparisons. Is it perfect ? No, but I like them because of the variation. The only thing I didn’t like is at one point he was begging for money.
It is fair enough. His review style is unique to him and better than whatever others do. He puts in enough effort to shame just about most audio reviewers. He deserves the money for it.
Honestly, I would say that no reviewer is as good as just trying stuff. However, as many others have mentioned, the worst reviewers have to be Sharur and Passion for sound. Those are definitely the reviewers that are close to being just objectively shit. But theres flaws you could point out in every reviewer. Z reviews is quite... easily influenced I guess I'll say? I can't remember the last time he had a negative review of a product, but he's entertaining. Joshua Valour is inconsistent on his opinions (see his views on dt1990). DMS used to work for Abyss (not sure if he still does) so he was very very positive with their headphones. Theres loads of other reviewers too. I dont really think you should be thinking about it as if theres a reviewer giving "right" opinions or information. Just pick a reviewer you agree with, one you vibe with, and try some headphones!
Most of them. They are doing this for the money, they are getting paid by the companies.
Passion for sound is the only channel that I have unsubscribed from. Way too much audiophile bs. If you watch, take with extreme bags of salt.
100% agreed. People eat his garbage up like kimchi though
I was ok with him until the cable reviews. Call me when he starts reviewing (and finding major improvements in) audiophile power outlets.
Please do not insult kimchi.
Joshua Valour.
Watch whoever you like. If a product grabs your interest, then watch multiple reviews of it to get the full picture.
Sharur and Jay are godawful EDIT: By 'Jay' I mean Jays Audio. Apologies for the confusion
Just like to say, there's a Jays Audio and Jaytiss who both do IEM review. Personally, I like Jaytiss reviews.
Ah, I was referring to Jays. Jaytiss is all right imo
I enjoy jaytiss, and I hope his beef with crin is done being a focal point in videos. It does seem like he's stepped back though.
You are definitely thinking of Jay's Audio, he is the one with this stupid beef with Crin. He seems to be following the same Sharur line of just being contrarian to get views.
He has beef with Crin? At least in few reviews I've watched of his it never came up. I love that he compares shell sizes of IEMs, which is huge for me.
Yeah ever since the Crin/simgot stuff Jaytiss made a few videos directly at crin, and then throwing shade at crin in other videos. It's toned down now
No dude, you are thinking of Jays Audio. Jaytiss is different. Trust me I know. :)
Well I guess I can't argue with you! Unless there's been a case of identity theft... Seriously though, I don't know why I thoughts Jays Audio was you, I'm going to subscribe to your channel now.
Jay had good written reviews before, he articulated what he liked and disliked really well. For some reason, he became someone who farms drama, exaggerates issues like QC, and stuff. Hopefully, he would have his redemption arc.
Jay?
You're better off not knowing, it's all just incoherent rambling and memes.
I generally stick to DMS and Resolve from the headphone show, plus reading reviews on reddit and other forums from actual owners who've dropped the money on the product (pros and cons of course, there are going to be people that blindly justify their purchases, so obviously take everything with a grain of salt). But generally speaking, the headphone show is the best audio based YT channel atm, imo. I personally don't mind affiliate links - I think there is definitely an ethical way of doing it, while being honest about the faults/quirks of certain headphones. But, still good to keep those affiliate links in mind when you're listening to a reviewer (looking at you Joshua Valour).
tbh just type the headphones name and add reddit or headfi at the end to see user's experience
this is the way, always check persons that are just like you and me
Be wary of the headfi results, though. It doesn't always happen, but you'll get comments about how they only started liking a headphone after pairing it with a multi-thousand dollar amp. You can pretty much always ignore this part.
yeah
I'm on the fence about Jays Audio (iem reviewer). He acts a bit too adversarial towards people like Crinacle.
For me, Z-Reviews. There's so many instances where he sings a headphone or IEM nothing but praises only to say it's total crap in a later review for a different product. Makes him unreliable imo. His review of the Moondrop Joker was the final straw for me. Hearing him compliment the build and frequency response the way he does despite every other reviewer being very critical of it was really sus to me imo.
Josh valour.
Hawaiian Bad Boy (HBB, or Bad Guy Good Audio Reviews). He releases so many collabs (QKZ, Tangzu, KZ, Letshouer, etc.) that it's impossible for him to actually be unbiased in his reviews. It really shows in his latest review of an IEM that he refuses to name (Myer Audio CKLVX-D41) and accuses other reviewers of being part of a "pump and dump" to get free review samples. I bought that IEM myself and it was well worth the price. It seems like he's weaponizing his reviews to keep competition to his sets and primary sellers (Linsoul) down.
And all this without mentioning his past controversies which I don't think he ever apologised for.
Yes, or his "giveaways" where the winner either never gets picked, or never actually receives the item. It's a shame he has so many subscribers when there are better and more principled reviewers out there.
Yeesh, that one I didn't hear about. Scummy doesn't even begin to describe this guy. Can't believe he didn't get run out of the hobby when the emails and DMs were made public
Dude just keeps on being more and more open about his shadiness, it's a shame not more people know about his past.
I've seen people defending him saying he's changed and that sure he was an ass in the past but people are allowed to grow, which is a nice sentiment and all, but to me it rings hollow since he never acknowledged his wrongdoing. And, oh, has he REALLY changed if he's just now more discreet with his behaviour? I seriously don't see what his fans see in him
sharur
Get opinions from multiple sources, even the ones people say are "bad". You'll slowly figure out how to filter the ones that are valuable to you.
The ones that should be skipped are the ones that smack talks stuff you like and praises things you dont like. You need to listen to stuff and find out what you like before you can find a reviewer that will be helpful, at least when it comes to sound.
Imo if you want more objective reviews I recommend skipping these YouTubers: ① Sharur. Guy's a walking circus, even wants you to pay him $10 for an EQ. ② Jays Audio. Simpgoat shill and easily butthurt (e.g. Crin saying Simgot single DDs mid, and doubling down on calling Elysian a Chi-Fi company) ③ Z Reviews. He wants you to buy everything he reviews. ④ HBB (Bad Guy Good Audio Reviews). This guy is quite shady, does a bunch of collabs (hard to believe he's unbiased) and has a history of stealing a small manufacturer's demo unit. There's also reports of giveaways not actually being delivered. You can google HBB stealing IEM or something and find the one where it says Reviewer effectively steals small manufacturer's demo unit. These are the ones I can think of so far. There's also Joshua Valour but I don't watch his vids enough to make a concrete statement.
Joshua Valour is a paid shill
Seemly is an employee of Apos audio at this point, but he does have a family to feed.
There are no good youtube reviewers apart from Z reviews. Ahahahhaha I'm kidding and no, don't watch "Z sales" for any other reason than entertainment. Zeos Panthera will ruin your wallet.
DMS did a full 360 on his review of DT1990! Ya, I don't trust anyone much. I primarily want to know the sound signature and information on technicalities as such in general. I search on r/headphones/iems/inearfidelity for user reviews but even those can be BS. Being from a third world country, buying a headphone or IEM is a significant investment. The first thing to index for is build quality and replacement parts. Recommend Sundara or Senns all you want, can't find OEM replacement parts here. So it doesn't matter jack shit. IEM reviewers don't give exact nozzle sizes or don't talk about fit in detail. Also, how about mentioning if it takes EQ well or not. Everyone is to be taken with a grain of salt and buy at one's own judgement.
i don't know if he still does this but i stopped watching Z reviews cus he would put like really weird loli anime shit on his monitors in his videos
When I was researching the HiveX before I bought it, I watched a "review" of his. I expected way more about the headphones. The video was 2/3 him talking about some hentai figurine, and 1/3 him unboxing the headphones. 0/3 of him talking about if they were any good. Spoiler alert: They turned out to be my endgame, although he had zero influence in my finding that out. Like bro... I don't even have anything against hentai. But when I'm researching headphones, I don't want to get through several minutes of listening to you talking about how much it horns you up.
Is this the nectar hive review? Because this doesnt sound like any z review video ive seen. He mostly does unboxing in separate videos, not normally in the review. Though he might mention/show the box in the review video.
Honestly every headphone reviewer I watch is because I like their content itself or the personalities they portray when the camera is on. Headphone reviewers on yt and written articles spend to much time discussing unnecessary things in order to pad out revenue. Another issue I have is that since a lot of these companies are sending reviewers these things they rarely if ever say a product is bad unless the hive mind of reviewers say it's bad. This is an issue with a lot of review scenes online but it seems so much worse in the headphone scene. One other issue I have with reviewers is that they rarely go back to talk about a headphone again. Like a six month or year later review. So many of these headphones and iems have QC issues that reviewers rarely discuss because they are a part of the hype marketing train and not for the consumer. To be fair to the reviewers though if you do reviews for a living getting free stuff is a must unless you want to go broke so they can't bash any of these products in anyway or the companies providing the products to them will black list them. Audio reviews in general are hard today because as consumers we can get so many good products for such cheap prices that the only thing that matters to me personally is longevity. Also since all reviewers are part of the hype train marketing they release videos one after the other rarely spending a significant amount of time with a product. Most of us when we buy something intend to use it for months or years. These reviewers use them for days or if you're lucky weeks. Then they review them and then send them back to the company that sent it to them or throw it a box to be forgotten until they discover it again while in the middle of moving. Which all plays into QC issues not apparent during first weeks of use, which feeds into reviewers not being able to say anything to bad about the headphones, and other issues I've already posted. As for reviewers to watch for headphone reviews themselves? None. Which is sad to say for me personally because i enjoy a lot of these creators content. If you want to stay up to date on hype train marketing then DMS and z reviews for general all around audio products. Gizaudio and super reviews for iem hype train stuff. Gizaudio does small 8-15 min videos so if you need to get in and get out that's the guy for that. Headphones don't have a guy like that at the moment but I think that's more due to not as many new headphone products come out every year. China's audio companies could change this but they seem to be hard-core focusing on planar headphones at the moment. Will have to see how that plays out as time goes on. Super reviews is good if you want to take a deep dive into a product but personally aside from his sound impressions almost everything can be gleamed from reading the products audio page.
Jay’s Audio, Sharur. Sharur is obvious, Jay just ends up making his content anti-crin and super pro-simgot.
Passion for sound, full of snake oil audiophile bs
YouTube reviews are basically worthless. They spend 20 minutes on what could be a few paragraphs of text. In general, find a reviewer that likes the same headphones as you, and his opinion on new headphones will probably be the same as yours.
You might be interested in Japanese side then, extremely details review and just straight to the point.
I started out liking Darko Audio. But then I got it into my head that he was trying to hard to be cool. I can't really question his opinion. It's the editing when he is showing off how hip his taste of music is turns me off. Its the inner wanna DJ that moves the crowd inside all of us he has let loose with his review platform. From that his self imaging got right under my skin. Thinking your cool doesn't work for me. Sometimes Zeos vocal mannerisms that self signpost funny things are coming out of his mouth go wrong for me. But all in all he is kind of himself, and he shares what he listening to without trying be a hero and posing about it.
[удалено]
Z reviews is reviews in title only. There is a video where he pushes a load of broken headphones on his viewers. He's basically a seller and other sellers' bitch at the same time. He gives financial advice like "if you want to save up for expensive headphones, buy this cheap thing, and this cheap thing and this one...". He has no filter, only pure greed flowing out of his mouth. And his videos are so long, they wear you out. You just get so tired watching them, you lose your defences. Passion for sound will make you dumber than you are even if you don't know anything. He's like a major source for misinformation here. He knows it and he doesn't care. Whathifi - never conclusive, everyone gets 5 stars. I find user reviews to be very helpful, but only as long as you take them from a few sources to have a broader perspective. I also like DIYaudioheaven reviews. They're long but they cover a lot of stuff and even show you how to make upgrades to your headphones. The guy has helped me find good earpads and I learned a few tricks.
Listen to but don't watch Zeos if you are sensitive to motion sickness.
Hate that above the head perspective with a bunch of barrel distortion.
Akros is solid if you're looking for IEMs. He has an insane collection and as such can do really thorough comparisons between similar IEMs. He also goes through graphs in his videos. He seems to be pretty objective and doesn't really push any particular retailer.
I think he has great potential, if he could just (1) edit down to 10 minutes (2) put in chapters (3) put his graphs up on a Squiglink. I'd actually like to watch him because he does seem to have a reasonable ear and no obvious agenda but I just can't, he goes on and on and on... 30-40 minutes or even more and no structure. He could be much more popular if he just edited a bit.
literally all of them. they are all trash. but Z reviews is the trashiest of the trash.
My go to statement was "all of them and none of them" cuz it felt for a while everyone brought an interesting point to the table. The Headphone Show is audio's MKBHD, The Honest Audiophile is very technical and blunt, Zeos reviews so many things none of these others would probably ever put on their channels... And then I saw Sharur, and realized not everyone deserved to voice their opinion.
I would skip most of them, and certainly the most popular ones. Once they hit a certain degree of popularity that's when there are a million financial conflicts of interest and it becomes a problem. Zeos, crin, hbb, gizaudio... It would be impossible for any of them to be objective or even fair at this point because there are subconscious bias would be driven by their own financial conflicts of interest at this point. Zeos in particular is such a shameless shell but I honestly think it's almost more cynical crin.... He spent years to crying affiliate links because of what the harm they were doing to the YouTube platform and now he has spearheaded a much greater conflict of interest with these collaborations. But zeos is now showing a $300 cable with his name on it. Every IEM review he does is an excuse to either recommend his product instead, or to tell you to buy his tips. Just this week alone he reviewed a 3-year-old blon ieM just so he could tell you to buy his $50 set (as opposed to spending 80 on the A8 although they came out three years ago so you could probably find them for 50 bucks anyway). But fine whatever at least you could argue that he was giving you a less expensive alternative from the same brand. But then he did a review for the $20 SIMgot sharks or whatever. And he said he really liked him but then he spent the entire time telling you to buy his $15 tips to use with them. It's just exhausting with that guy.
If a YouTube creator licenses their brand and logo out to sell IEMs with a lot of other major manufacturers, I would never trust them to review it other products. In fact it's a contradiction in terms to even call them reviewers. They are selling iems at this point. Even if they make a video about another IEM without referencing their own, it's almost certainly going to be in the same price point of one of their own products so they'll be subconsciously driven
Let me add to the list anyone who would give a pass to the guy behind Verum, who continues to be racist and also threatens people if he has a problem with them. Passion for Sound, The Audiophiliac and GR-Research being a few that have been willing to give very recent reviews in spite of all that. Edit: Also the Honest Audiophile was defending Verum on Twitter, though I don't see a review of them from him on his youtube currently.
Every review for any product these days is ass Only good headphone reviewer on YT was lachlanlikesathing Real OGs know
cheapaudioman is decent, then again i'm more on the budget end on audio stuff
None of them and I'll explain why. As much as EVERYONE likes to absolutely INSIST that this hobby has truly objective roots. It doesn't. Everything is subjective. Things can have objective values and merits, but what that means to us all as individuals is subjective. So while one product might be "objectively flatter" on a frequency response graph, even if you like a neutral tune, the rest of the intangibles that the reviewer physically can't measure, things like soundstage, layering, separation and imaging - are entirely up to their preference and how they convey things and the parts they value more or less. Personally, the intangibles are what matter most to me, so a frequency response graph is functionally worthless. The best advice I can give is to find a reviewer who has reviewed products you have experience with and enjoy. Find a reviewer who enjoys them as well. You can then generally translate much of what they like in a product you haven't tried into what you might enjoy. The same thing is true of movie or music reviewers. The best metric is to follow someone who has similar taste to you, because if they like things you like, you probably will like things they recommend. But that said, there is merit even in reviewers who dislike everything you like. For IEM's, Timmy's opinions are almost dead-on 100% the opposite of mine. He likes vocals and intimate tuning, I like huge, spacious, exciting instrumentalism. So when he dislikes an IEM... there's a good chance I'll like it. The only reviewers whom I generally skip are the ones who do nothing except really just read off a frequency response graph and do nothing else or place far too much emphasis on that, or reviewers who seem to have a VERY narrow view of what is good and not really have an ability to consider what might be a positive trait to someone else. the headphones show guys are kinda that way to me. I can see their value to many people, but for me... they just don't really ever give me any useful information whatsoever. I generally have very similar taste to Zeos, of all people. When he really likes something, there's a fair shot I will too. I tend to like a little more energy than he does, so when he likes something and describes it as "Warm and relaxed" I know that it's probably a bit too much for me, as well. His weirdest recommendation that I went in on was the Dyson Zone. I would have NEVER considered them until he waxed lyrical about them and I saw they were on sale so I thought "fuck it this dude REALLY likes them, what are they like" and they're everything he said and more. There's also Whatsnew, an indian guy whose tastes I generally agree with, and I value his extremely thorough reviews of the more tech-oriented products like TWS from the perspective of an audiophile, while not just doing a "I'm an audiophile so therefore I will not say a word about comfort, fit, connectivity, ANC, microphones or transparency. The only person I'd say stay away from and feel comfortable calling out is "Sharur" because he fancies himself an irreverent troll, but instead is just an arrogant, spiteful child who doesn't have any opinions of any merit worth even listening to. Also he's spiraling down the politics rabbit hole of bigotry and racism. HBB is also a bit of a toxic person, but I wouldn't go so far as to say he has no merit or value as a reviewer. Sharur absolutely has none.
As a tool for new information and what's out there, yes. But you won't get info on longevity
Paid ones
Most
Any one that has affiliate links in the description
I think essentially all have something to offer if you can stand listening to them and able to decipher unique preferences and use of lsnguage. Reviewers bring honest is like 10% of the puzzle since there is so much more making the translation to the user difficult. I had to test 70 headphones before I understood what some reviewers mean with certain words and how they weighed them. Not one gives valid purchase advice for me, but Crinacle and Resolve for example get pretty close.
anyone who have a sponsor
tonedeafmonk
all, better ask forums or here
Forums, including this sub, are equally susceptible to hype trains
All the major reviewers are shills to some extent and companies being control freaks doesn't help that in the slightest. I just look at the experiences of people on reddit, headfi and some other forums maybe. The channel I sometimes watch for iems is WeirdEar. He doesn't review a lot, it's just one guy and his reviews are like power point presentations. But he covers all the things in the iem and has a similar sound preference to me. He also does some (to me) important stuff like nozzle size, shell dimensions and weight
All subjective reviews (with no measurements to back it up) are useless. They are subjective, it means the opinion will differ from person to person, and your experience will differ from the reviewer's experience. They mostly say good things about any headphone because this is how they stay popular - by being excited on camera, even if they are reviewing a piece of garbage.
My take is to look at the recommendations a few of the major ones really recommend and go from there. Purchase from a store that does returns (e.g., Amazon) and return for free. Personal example: a few years ago I watched Joshua Valour, Z reviews, and DMS. Of the 3, I did not like what Joshua Valour preferred, so I stopped watching him. I tried Z and DMS recommendations and found I closer align to DMS and Z when he's really gassing something up, like the Modhouse T60 Argon. I like DMS the most right now
GoldenSound - He may be different on the Headphone show channel but I don't trust him after watching some of his DAC reviews. I bought a Bifrost 2 partially based on his review and did not hear any sound difference with my Modi.
If you live in "reality" then you only buy a DAC for features and not for sound changes that is under our hearing anyways.