2. misc-audio
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what are your views regarding reviewing styles ?

at the risk of being simplistic, i would say there are two broad categories of reviewing--criticism and reporting and the connotations of subjectivity and objectivity.

a reviewer can present an opinion of a component,providing evidence from listening, as to its quality relative to other compoents of the same class and then express a preference for that component relative to other components of the same class, often using ornate phrases.

alternatively a reviewer can describe his perceptions without using adjectives, not indicating a preference in an attempt to be factual. the idea is not to influence the reader by using words which may have a positive or negative valence associated with them.

much of today's reviewing is what i would call advocacy reviewing. there are very few instances where reviewers try to strictly inform without influencing.

what do you think ?
mrtennis

Showing 3 responses by tvad

tvad
9,467 posts
 
thus being factual means reporting what you are
without using adjectives and without attempting to influence.
Mrtennis  (Threads | Answers)
I'd suggest that
reporting and reviewing are two separate disciplines.

Your definition of being factual relates to reporting, which is seldom, if
ever the basis of articles about audio electronics, accessories or music.

Reviewing by definition includes the writer's opinion. Can you recall one
review of a film, concert, art show or book which did not include the
author's opinion? Would you read such a report?

Audio reviews contain opinion, and will therefore never be unbiased.

If you ever come across an unbiased audio report, please post a link. I'd
love to read it. It'd be kind of like seeing a Dodo bird...or a flying pig.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
If I had a friend who reported his restaurant experience by stating the
ingredients of his meal, the temperature of the food, and the time it
took for the waiter to take his order and for the kitchen to deliver his
food to the table, I not only would not try the restaurant, but I'd pass on
any invitation to dinner my friend, Mr. Spock, might extend.

Are you serious with this analogy? What kind of a bland, grey world is it
where life's experiences are simply a series of facts? Are we discussing
the planet Vulcan here?

Yikes.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Mrtennis, you contradict yourself in your threads.

You ask in this thread for a rich 6922 tube. Please define the word rich without injecting opinion. You are asking for opinion, and yet you now reject opinion as useless for your purposes.

In this thread you asked for a dull, caramel colored CD player. Again, soliciting opinion.

Perhaps you need to identify those quantifiable characteristics that
define a warm 6922 tube, and those that define a warm and colored CD
player.

In my opinion (wha! there's that word again), you seem to be working at
your own cross purposes, and I for one cannot fathom how to answer
your questions, or how to determine if your queries are even genuine.
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