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Audio vs. Other Reviews

Compared to reviewing in other industries, it seems that audio has very very few poor reviews, and I wonder what the difference is. I read music review magazines and they have no problem giving something one star and calling it horrible. I used to read computer game review magazines and still read a copy now and then, and they, too, have no problem trashing a bad game. In both cases, there is a lot of gradation as well - things throughout the spectrum. Every review doesn't end with, "You should check this out, because it may just be what you're looking for!" as the worst it might say.

In pricier categories, car magazines tend to be a fair amount more critical than audio reviews. They also do fairly massive head-to-head comparisons, comparing, say, 10 sport coupes in single go, and rating them, something we're always asking of, but rarely receiving from, audio magazines.

So why is it that basically every audio review is positive? I realize that often, if you read between the lines, the reviews give you a lot of reasons to perhaps steer clear, but why so subtle? Is it really so much harder to do a head-to-head comparison of 10 integrated amps than the same number of luxury sedans? If audio magazines fear advertisers backlash, how do the car magazines deal with the same thing?

Or is it just that, on average, audio components are very capable, and that criticizing them would be unfair?
kthomas

Showing 1 response by zaikesman

zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
I basically agree with all of the above, fine points made by everyone. I do think that the current standard reviewing style is of very limited value to audiophiles. There are a few good dealers here and there whose takes on what's what are much more on the money than anything you will get out of the mags (although rarely so when concerning competing brands they don't carry). While I have posted about this previously in great detail, I'll just reiterate here that perhaps the most indicative sign of this milquetoast trend is the ridiculous "grade inflation" exhibited by Stereophile's now-worthless 'Recommended Components' farce. There seemed to be a trend a while back in both some mags and webzines toward multiple-reviewer perspectives per component, but that now looks to have fallen by the wayside a good bit, which is a step in the wrong direction - especially given today's impossible proliferation of published 'reviewers' who possess no track record with the readers to refer back to.

But I'm also not sure if a lot of audiophiles could truly handle a 'real' critic in this business. If audio reviewing were the profession of one of history's great critics - say George Bernard Shaw or Mark Twain - then we'd have to accept criticism of more than just the latest black box, and audiophiles as a group are probably just a little too neurotic, anal-retentive, and insecure to deal with that challenge in good humor. In other words, validation, rather than questioning, sits better and sells better with us. Come back to audio, J. Gordon - it needs you!
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