YouTube Reviews

@larsman  - opposite of   deja vu    feels like it’s been experienced before - we are an experienced never heard before.

@bthrb4u  yes I understand - old pictures for sure. We offer an in home trial period and when you hear the sound we think that you will be very impressed no matter what you have or have heard.  The half a dozen dealers who have heard our products have commented on the sound compared to what they have in their shops.  If we change the chassis designs to lets say something like Rowland, we can always double the asking price!

Just getting started.  Thanks again everyone.

Hey @bigkidz 

As I'm sure you know Michael Fremer doesn't live far from you (or myself for that matter).  He may  put you in contact with someone who can give you a leg up.

And possibly have a listen to your gear.

I am not a Fremer fan, but your story may be different than mine.

Regards,

barts

@bigkidz you absolutely need to work with YouTube reviewers.  It will bring a lot more eyes to your products and guys like me totally count on these reviewers to introduce us to new products.  We all realize that some of them are getting paid to do the reviews but it's still is the easiest way as a consumer to learn or discover new products and see first hand what it looks like and better than any website can offer.  I follow the following Chanels which were some were already mentioned but since you are building tube gear I would focus on the first 7.

1. Hifi Huff - 151K subscribers.  He does indepth reviews of amps, speakers, DACs, etc.  I feel his reviews are honest and not too technical. He's one of the OG guys in this space.

2. Old Guy Hifi - 29K subscribers.  Former audio dealer who is an absolute wealth of knowledge.  He loves audio gear and does a pretty no non sense type of review out of his basement office and listening space with little production.  He'll be more technical and he seems to be the most educated in this space compared to the other reviews.  I bought one of my amps based on his positive 2 part review and he was spot on.

3. The Greek Audio Geek - 10.2 subscribers.  Focus is on tube gear and basically is an audiophile that just wants to help the community so he does reviews of products and will give you an honest opinion.  He knows a fair amount about the specs but he's mostly just judging things on how it sounds.  He reviews from very expensive to entry tube gear.

4. Jay Iyagi - 110K subscribers.  His reviews tend to be higher production .  I like to follow him because he provides a good balance of technical & the type of info us basic audiophile enthusiasts understand - I think he was a former audio salesman as well so he knows how to speak to consumers.  His gear reviews tend to be out of my price range but occasionally he's got some stuff that fit my budget.  I bought one set of speakers in my system based on his recommendation.  He also does a podcast with another guy that I will listen to as well.

5. New Record Day - 110K subscribers.  Was one of the early OG guys as well.  Love his videos and his quirky humor.  I find his content easy to understand and just enjoy watching his videos.  

6. Pursuit Perfect System - 92.7 subscribers.  An Englishman that does easy to follow reviews.  HIs videos are probably scripted and read but they are a good way to understand new products.  He's done a fair amount of tube gear reviews.

7. Steve Guttenberg Audiophiliac - 269K subscribers.  The godfather of YouTube audio gear reviews.  He's an former audio sales man who is very technical and well respected reviewer.   

Others that are good but based on the fact you are making tube gear may or not be good fits but worth checking out.

8. Andrew Robinson - 417K subscribers.  He's one of the largest subscriber bases for audio equipment but mainly does solid state and home theater systems. Haven't seen a lot of tube gear reviews.  He tends to be pretty technical too with scripted read reviews.

9. Cheap Audio Man - 393K subscribers.  Love his videos and this guy - some of my favorites of the reviewers. Doesn't do a lot in tube gear and focuses on products under $1000.  

10. Dark Audio - 372K subscribers.  Again one of the larger subcriber bases but doesn't do a lot of tube gear because he's a solid state guy and mostly listens to electronic music.  Love his reviews though and view points.

11. Forever Analog - 39.K subscribers.  Fun no non sense videos.  I just like his personality and his budget points for most gear reviews.

12.  The Joy of Vinyl Records - 23.9K subscribers.  He doesn't do a lot of gear review but based on the type of products you offer its in his wheelhouse for the the type equipment he loves and is capable of reviewing.  I bought my speakers in my main system because it was the same ones he bought.

Decware is a great example of reviews creating exposure and then demand. Historically they never pursued reviews until the pandemic. Concerned about less demand due to economic uncertainty they broke away from their previous line of no reviews with Steve Guttenberg reviewing the Zen Triode in July of 2020. From there the waitlist grew exponentially from typically a three to six month wait to now more than two years for their amps (with additional workers). 

I’m not critical of YT reviewers and would guess that a good portion of the viewers may be younger than the average age on this forum. Reviewers are a data point and often know much more than me with a greater spectrum of experience. 

Steve Guttenberg, Jay’s Iyagi, and Steve Huff offer their subjective opinions without any condensation, which I appreciate.

Kind of cute to see a bunch of posters here who are clearly older and are proudly denying the value of youtube for audio reviews. And why bother telling the OP that you never watch them? Clearly, this is of no help to the OP and no one else really cares.

But the OP is asking for advice because of a business venture. 

Youtube audio reviewers have hundreds of thousands of subscribers and even higher view counts. 

My advice, OP, is that you look across the channels and look at view counts, subscriber numbers, and product types. And that you disregard cranky old opinions about how worthless youtube is.