Audio reviews: too many analogies, never simple, but most of all, never clear.


How many reviews have you read were it takes at least 2 paragraphs for the the reviewer to actually give 
hint this article is actually audio related or even gives mention to what he or she’s reviewing. Get to the subject matter. Leave out your less than perfect dramatic writing skills and lets start hearing about the actual review. I’d rather hear about comparisons between audio components than analogies between wine and taste related to transparency and how that gives rise to what they are getting ready say. What does wine have to do with audio transparency, nothing! Also they have a tendency to talk more about recordings that I’m sure 99% of the readers of the article have never heard of, or would ever listen to.
And when you looking for some sign of what they actually think of the components they’re reviewing they never give you a straight answer; it’s always something that leaves, at least for myself, asking, well where’s the answer. 
hiendmmoe
My but it's funny how just about any topic can get peoples' dander up.  Do you get paid for your work?  So do reviewers, deal with it, they are not the Great Satan.  

This is what you get with capitalism, it's not so bad.  Learn how to read critically, or go read 5 star Amazon reviews instead.

Professional reviews never pan a product because they don't review a component that is crap.  They return it and decline to review it, it's a professional courtesy.  

There was an antidote for lousy sounding products, it was called auditioning it for yourself at the local dealer.  But we all drove them out of business by buying Chinese knock offs online, so now we're stuck with trying to return it if we don't like it.  At least we saved a buck on that pirated speaker cable.
"How many reviews have you read were it takes at least 2 paragraphs for the the reviewer to actually give
hint this article is actually audio related..."
I am not sure about audio journalism, but in some areas people get paid by the amount of material.

Along with that, the magazine has to fill pages with something so a "column" needs to be a page, two, or three long. If they wrote only relevant things, whole magazine would be two pages text and 84 pages advertisement.

More than all of that, how much is there really to write in a review of an audio product? How do you describe "better" or "worse" to someone far away reading in her/his armchair? Assuming there are reviews that do say something is not good, and I have not seen one in a while.
I would like to know how many in this group are dealers.  I think they should require all dealers to identify themselves so we can determine the bias.
My nephew used to write for Audiophile Magazine.  His equipment was practically given to him after reviewing their gear.  I think in many cases we can accept their reviews with a grain of salt.

Let's talk about incomprehensible analogies.  Herb R. is a major offender.  Listening to this pair of headphones was like hiking half way up Kathmandu and slipping into a tepid bath of pulped avocados and sriracha.  I lost myself in the poignant deep clouds of mysticism.

I think I'll just buy the heavily discounted Audioquests...