Tips for reviewing (and auditioning) equipment

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Tips for reviewing (and auditioning) equipment
Topic Started: 14 Nov 2006, 01:14 AM (577 Views)
yongchris	14 Nov 2006, 01:14 AM Post #1
Posts: 409 Group: Members Member #50 Joined: 17 October 2006	Some of the tips I've picked up in my stint writing for the magazine, and my own set of 'rules' 1. Carry a notebook and pen. Aural memory fades pretty quickly. You cannot compare the sound of a pair of cans/amp/source heard weeks/months/years ago with whatever you're listening to now accurately. You may be able to discern obvious differences, but for more subtle differences, its better to record your impressions down in black and white. 2. Don't review/audition more than 1 piece of equipment at one time. If you're auditioning/reviewing cans, make sure your source/amp is constant (or vice versa). Changing the source/amp with each can (or vice versa) will result in skewed results. If you're reviewing/auditioning a single pair of cans then by all means use different amps/sources to test compatibility. But if you're testing several cans at once (maybe to decide on a purchase or a shootout), try to have your amp/source unchanged. 3. Always use the same test tracks. This is more for reviewing than auditioning (though the same principles apply). Go through your CD collection and pick about a dozen songs to use as reference tracks. Maybe burn them onto a CD, or rip them as WAV/ALAC to your iPod. Pick a bunch of tracks that show off different aspects of sound. ie low, mid, high freqs, transparency, soundstage, instrument placement/separation...etc. Whatever rocks your boat and you look for in equipment. More importantly, have some tracks that you listen to because you LIKE them. Doesn't have to be 'audiophool' tracks. If you like Kenny G, have 1 or 2 Kenny G tracks in there. At the end of the day, you are going to be listening to the gear, so no point using 'audiophool' tracks only to be disappointed when you bring it home and put on your normal listening stuff. 4. If you're going to A/B gear. Keep it at A-B. A-B-C will just confuse you, and D will make it worse. If you have to do a shootout, do it one at a time, take notes, then do it like a knockout. AvB, CvD, then winnerVwinner. If you do all 4, the chances of your head going crazy is very high. 5. Reference Gear. If you have reference gear, use it as your basis of comparison. If you own and love the HD650 and you're buying an IEM, compare the IEM to the 650. How does the IEM make you feel in terms of sound quality. Similarly, if you have a source/amp/can at home that you love and you're buying a new source/amp/can, bring it down (source/amp for cans or vice versa) when you audition the new piece of gear. (When I review cans, I always use the same CD player/iPod/amp, when I review mp3 players, I always use the same cans...etc) 6. You have to live with it. This one is only for auditioning gear for purchase. The golden rule is that you have to pay money for it, and live with it. So don't rush into the decision. Take your time. Use as many test tracks as you want. At the end of the day, if you don't like it, and still buy it, you're going to regret it. 7. If you're writing to publish in a forum, please try to use proper English. Poor Grammar cannot be faulted, but poor spelling (especially sms spelling) is deplorable. There are free spell checkers online, and word has one built in. Even gmail has a spell checker. Use it. Try not to use shortforms and expect everyone to understand. Headfon may be easily recognised, but what's "comparo" mean? There's a big difference between spelling badly because English is not your stronger language, and spelling badly because you are lazy. 8. Don't always expect your audience to understand what you're talking about. Try to write with the layman in mind. If you use technical terms or shortforms that you think your audience might not understand, try to use a short sentence to explain it. 9. Don't let price entirely affect the review/audition. Costly equipment doesn't always sound good, and cheap equipment doesn't always sound bad. Judge a piece of equipment on its sound first, then factor in the price, and not the other way around. In my reviews, I always try to put the price/value in the last paragraph because if a piece of gear sounds fantastic and is expensive, we can always justify it as the priceVperformance value is high. 10. Don't believe what you read and what other people tell you. Reviewers lie, and people who own the gear will have a tendency to be biased. Always trust your own ears, and always try to go into the review/audition with an open mind. Chris
	Recipes at Secret Garlic Butter. Click me


cmk	14 Nov 2006, 09:01 AM Post #2
The Audio Geek Posts: 128 Group: Members Member #130 Joined: 3 November 2006	Damn good summary of DOs and DONTs.
	[size=3]New king of the hill = Diva + ATHW100/Beyer DT990![/size] Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.


TopGun	14 Nov 2006, 10:28 AM Post #3
Callsign Maverick Posts: 812 Group: Global Moderator Member #3 Joined: 15 October 2006	yongchris Nov 14 2006, 01:14 AM Doesn't have to be 'audiophool' tracks. If you like Kenny G, have 1 or 2 Kenny G tracks in there. At the end of the day, you are going to be listening to the gear, so no point using 'audiophool' tracks only to be disappointed when you bring it home and put on your normal listening stuff. 9. Don't let price entirely affect the review/audition. Costly equipment doesn't always sound good, and cheap equipment doesn't always sound bad. Judge a piece of equipment on its sound first, then factor in the price, and not the other way around. In my reviews, I always try to put the price/value in the last paragraph because if a piece of gear sounds fantastic and is expensive, we can always justify it as the priceVperformance value is high. LOL, Kenny G eh? Nice one here Chris, didnt noticed it earlier! I think this can be a sticky under the Other Equipments Section? As for Point number 9, I would like to say that when I am listening to something, I would always prefer to hear the sound signature and how well it performs on certain tracks, then I'll ask about the price. After that, some mental calculation comes into mind and I will start to think of a price vs performance ratio. If it sounds that damn good for that price, why not recommend it? This is the case for the KOSS KSC75 which IMHO, it's performance-price ratio is highly above 4-5 region. Kudos! Hope to see more of this soon! Pssst.. totally agree on the language part, and I hope that this high standard is able to be maintained in normal postings as well.



yongchris	14 Nov 2006, 02:59 PM Post #4
Posts: 409 Group: Members Member #50 Joined: 17 October 2006	More tips for writing the review 1. Keep your sentences short and concise. Long windy sentences are tiring and difficult to read and confusing to the user and the eye tends to skip words and the reader might miss words and they might have to do a double take to get the gist of your sentence and then miss the point completely rendering the entire review useless. (see what I did?) 2. Try to keep a structure frame for your review. This is just a guideline, you don't have to follow it, but it's like a GP essay or algorithm. If you plan and chart out your review, it'll be much easier to write. eg Para 1: Introduction, background of the product, how you were drawn to it, Para 2: Appearence, comfort, build quality, ease of use...etc Para 3: Test equipment used (and a little of how they sound) Para 4: Sound qualities of the gear in review with examples from test tracks. (You don't really have to write down every track used and how each track sounded. That might make the review too long.) Para 5-etc: More sound if necessary Last from second para: How the gear made you feel, what you liked/disliked about it Last para: recommendations/alternatives 3. Whenever possible, try to compare the gear in question to a reference piece of equipment when writing. This will allow the reader a basis of comparison. eg. The UM2 is not as clinical or transparent as the ER4. OR, The 701 had a more silky luscious midrange compared to the 990. Of course, this is not always possible, which brings us to the next point. 4. Try and listen to as much gear as possible, and refer to your notes. The more you listen, the more you educate your ears, and the easier it will be for you to find the words to discribe the differences. It'll also be easier to criticise and your argument would carry more weight. 5. Reviews are subjective, tastes in audio gear is subjective. Not everyone will like the same thing nor dislike the same thing. Take that into account when you write your review. You can criticise without criticising and compliment without complimenting. eg. "The deep bass of the 990 was too much for me, but those prefering the lower registers will certainly appreciate it" (Am I criticising or complimenting?) 6. Try to offer both positive and negative points. Nothing is perfect and no piece of gear is perfect. If you constantly compliment or berate a product, you'd come off as extremely biased. Try to balance your review. You can always put in your personal feelings/recommendations at the end of the writeup. 7. Try not to ramble. It's not so important for forum reviews since there is no word limit, but even so. Try to limit yourself to a certain number of words so that readers won't get bored. 8. Edit your work before you post. Always read it through once or twice more checking for mistakes. Maybe run it through a spell check. Most of the time, I write in Word, then cut and paste when I'm completely satisfied. 9. Don't write in haste and regret it later. I learnt this from the Togoparts forum where there is no 'edit' button. I love that idea and I strongly support it. The edit button allows writers to change their work, so they are not held accountable for what they wrote. Meanwhile, if you publish your work, once its out there, there's no taking it back. 10. Writing a review is not a chore, its fun and educational at the same time. There are no bad reviews. There are bad writers and bad products, but bad writers can be taught. If the gear is really bad, it might be better not to review it at all. Chris
	Recipes at Secret Garlic Butter. Click me


Fongalv	15 Nov 2006, 01:25 AM Post #5
What member? Posts: 1,998 Group: Member Member #7 Joined: 15 October 2006	wow...thanks for the effort undertaken to compile the list...can I suggest you put all of them in the first post and maybe sticky it for a while so everyone gets to read it abit? edit: Quote: 7. Try not to ramble oh ok...I can see why you dont wanna put them all in 1 post
	Music, without life is lame...Life, without music is crippled... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rigs(outdated image): 32Gb S9 →SMicroIV → e500C → me 2200mAh H140(RB) → Grover S → SMacro3v6/Diablo → e500C → me Philips CD850(circa '90s!) → 1694A → DA7.2x(TCXO) → Grover UR8 → SP MPX3 SLAM → '03 DT880 / DBE V3 → me Bushguy @ Head-fi Fongalv can have my firstborn in trade for his pair(of Darths)... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


yongchris	15 Nov 2006, 03:01 AM Post #6
Posts: 409 Group: Members Member #50 Joined: 17 October 2006	Fongalv Nov 15 2006, 01:25 AM wow...thanks for the effort undertaken to compile the list...can I suggest you put all of them in the first post and maybe sticky it for a while so everyone gets to read it abit? edit: Quote: 7. Try not to ramble oh ok...I can see why you dont wanna put them all in 1 post No effort spent on my part, anyway, these aren't golden rules or by-laws, just stuff that I've experienced over the past couple of years doing reviews. The second post was written as an addendum to the first post after a stroke of inspiration... With the recent spat of review submissions, I thought it might be worthwhile to help others who want to do writeups but are afraid of doing so. Both posts are quite different. One is tips on how to review/audition, second is on how to write the review/audition. How do I sticky it? I think it's not up to me I will be adding more articles as my muse shoots her arrows at me. Chris PS. I tend to ramble a lot too. But I have a word limit imposed if I want to get published, so that helps.
	Recipes at Secret Garlic Butter. Click me


Valerie	17 Nov 2006, 08:52 PM Post #7
Posts: 75 Group: Members Member #123 Joined: 2 November 2006	And one more thing, don't try too hard to impress. The best reviews use simple, universal sentence structures (something that I've yet to master). Nothing can't be quite worse than coupling irrational sentence structres with poor grammar.



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