The reality of magazine reviews

[karatestu]

Avoid magazines, they're full of bullshit. What a waste of £5. In fact they are probably even more than that now .

[George Hincapie]

Interesting subject. Now, having gained a bit of insight about the industry, I would say that the picture is mixed, and still in the transition from print to online. My comments are general rather than specific to mags only.

There are reviewers who take their time to get a real understanding of what the item is all about, what the ethos is, how it is meant to be used and partnered, what it can do, what it is not meant to do. They might spend at least a few months with the kit, and the reviews that they produce can be detailed, insightful and informative. Some will make comparisons to other kit, some choose not to. Mostly, if they really don't like a piece of kit then they will send it back rather than write a negative review. In fairness, there is not much terrible hi-fi around (although, there may be some hi-fi that is terrible value for money; you ultimately have to develop and use your own judgement about that).

On the other hand, there are some who call themselves reviewers but just want to play with kit, write a quick review and charge a fee for it. They have little expertise, and often little experience, and are usually looking to turn over as many 'fees / items' as they can. Quantity over quality.

As a manufacturer, you need to be selective about which reviewers you engage with. However, if you choose the right reviewers - those who combine a passion for hi-fi and music with professional standards - then a review can help you get the word out about your products. And, every manufacturer has to find a way to do that. To give you an idea, in the last 30 days this forum generated 120 clicks through to the NVA website, while the A British Audiophile review of our Starter Bundle generated 9,000 clicks to the website in 5 days. If people have not previously heard of your brand, then reviews help reassure them that you are genuine and worthy of consideration.

Reviewers have to earn a living, just like all of us. So, somewhere in the process, money has to change hands. A percentage of that money has always come from manufacturers. That percentage has increased since fewer people now pay for content. It's easy to demand warts and all commentary and complete independence, but are consumers willing to completely fund it? No.

User reviews are great but they only tend to hold a lot of weight when there are lots of them - which is why it would be helpful if everyone who tries NVA would write a review

[George Hincapie]

I'm curious to know whether any of those 9,000 clicks translated to orders? It was an excellent review, and Tarun is great at what he does.

[slinger]

I'm curious to know whether any of those 9,000 clicks translated to orders? It was an excellent review, and Tarun is great at what he does.

Those clicks generated around 100 email contacts and that turned into 15 orders, so far. I think that number would be a fair bit higher, but for the difficulty of shipping to the EU since Brexit. There was a lot of interest from Germany, France and Italy.

We could build amps in Poland (Tomasz does upgrades and repairs already) but we would then lose some of the made in the UK kudos. It would also potentially push prices up to hold stock and equipment in two locations. I had hoped that the UK government and the EU would have come to their senses by now and rowed back on some of the hurdles to trade.

[George Hincapie]

I'm curious to know whether any of those 9,000 clicks translated to orders? It was an excellent review, and Tarun is great at what he does.

Those clicks generated around 100 email contacts and that turned into 15 orders, so far. I think that number would be a fair bit higher, but for the difficulty of shipping to the EU since Brexit. There was a lot of interest from Germany, France and Italy.

We could build amps in Poland (Tomasz does upgrades and repairs already) but we would then lose some of the made in the UK kudos. It would also potentially push prices up to hold stock and equipment in two locations. I had hoped that the UK government and the EU would have come to their senses by now and rowed back on some of the hurdles to trade.

Congratulations! That's brilliant news. And of course the review stays on YT so more could come from it over time.

[Daniel Quinn]

Perhaps magazines reflect the reality that there is very little difference in the sound of equipment but audiophiles spend an age on minor differences in presentation .

[George Hincapie]

Perhaps magazines reflect the reality that there is very little difference in the sound of equipment but audiophiles spend an age on minor differences in presentation .

I'm guilty of that Danny. I always worry about buying the 'wrong' thing if that makes sense? Even though, as you say, the differences are negligable.

[Daniel Quinn]

Anybody who is on this forum was guilty at some point

[Berty bass]

Perhaps magazines reflect the reality that there is very little difference in the sound of equipment but audiophiles spend an age on minor differences in presentation .

I'm guilty of that Danny. I always worry about buying the 'wrong' thing if that makes sense? Even though, as you say, the differences are negligable.

Which can also translate into unnecessary 'upgrading'. I had a perfectly serviceable and very respectable-sounding Rega Mira integrated (older, clamshell design). When I came into a small amount of money (courtesy of my now deceased Aunt, Gold bless her!) I thought I'd take the opportunity to upgrade, on the basis of believing there must be something 'better' available as I'd had the Mira for several years by then. I plumped for a newer Elicit instead. I'm not sure I can hear much in the way of difference between them, if I'm being honest with myself.

[Geoff.R.G]

Anybody who is on this forum was guilty at some point

Absolutely, replacing a perfectly good piece of equipment with something else because of a perceived improvement is pretty common. In Hi-Fi, objective analysis is so flawed that it is impossible to determine whether something is an improvement. How often has an objective improvement resulted in a subjective degradation?

I haven’t bought any Hi-Fi equipment for over 20 years. Microphones, amplifiers, mixers etc. but no domestic Hi-Fi, nor do I have any plans to do so, unless my tuner has to be replaced. Then I will buy a used one of the same model.