Just want to know who are you watching on YouTube for headphone reviews?
I’ve been watching Z reviews for the last few months, although I’ll say that I do take what he says with a grain of salt. But still nice to watch someone talk about and review headphones and amps.
I kind of like the reviews from DMS3 TV ( as in the link below). He absolutely nailed the issues I had with the Schiit Magni 3:
The Magni 3 is so bad that I returned it and ate the 15% restocking fee plus s/h. It provided no net amplification and no improvement to sound quality. Due to less obvious compression, raw iPhone/iPod Touch output is better overall.
I don’t like Zeos a whole lot for his reviews. They are pretty unstructured and feel a lot like schilling. Its also really hard to tell what his audio profile is as it seems to be all over the place. I do enjoy his sound demos though. They are pretty neat and although obviously they will sound different through your personal speakers / headphones, they are useful for being able to get a feel of the headphones sound signature.
Tyll at Inner Fidelity is pretty good if you combine his youtube reviews with his writing, it becomes a complete package.
Currawong is another that I enjoy.
I do find though that if you aren’t an enthusiastic headphone hobbyist, it is very hard to get into high-end headphone reviews because they are usually ridiculously long and full of jargon.
A good consumer-friendly friendly reviewer is Jimsreviewroom. Probably the best for sub $600 reviews.
I’ve watched his podcast a few times, and a few reviews, he’s definitely one that I’ll watch once in a while.
I watched all the ones that you listed, I like to compare at least a few reviews on a headphone not just one.
I’ll take bits and pieces of each review and even read some more, then you can get a comment theme.
Back when this channel was a bit more active, I really liked the headphones reviews LachlanLikesAThing put out: https://www.youtube.com/user/lachlanlikesathing.
And when time permits, Tyll is a wealth of knowledge about everything audio.
The only Youtube headphone reviews I can watch, at least without feeling like I’ve slipped into the twilight zone, are the ones Tyll Hertsens does for Innerfidelity. Over many years of reading, watching, and listening … I’ve found a pretty high correlation between his findings and my understanding of how a given pair of headphones will sound.
Watching a couple of “Z-Reviews”, I found that Zeos was so far off what I, and those with ears I trust, experience that it was hard to believe his comments were in reference to the same cans. Some of the things he doesn’t hear/comment on or can’t tell apart make me wonder if he has hearing issues, as they can be quite pronounced (though I’m used to listening for the differences between DACs which are MUCH more subtle than those between different headphones). I don’t find his “quick switch” way of comparison particularly useful either.
The net effect is that I find “Z-Reviews” extremely hard to take seriously.
I will watch Zeos for comfort and build reviews. He is actually pretty thorough about pointing out design flaws and how stock pads vs third party ones work with each headphone. He spends very little time actually talking about the sound of a headphone and his impressions are usually all over the place as others pointed out, so take those with a huge grain of salt.
Some other good youtube reviewers would be Aornic and Metal571. Both are pretty level-headed in approach, with the former more focused on subjective thoughts on genres, source pairings, and comparisons to similar headphones. The latter is more focused on objective qualities, considering FR graphs and their effect on subjective listening, as well as providing EQ settings to hit a target curve like Harmon.
I do also enjoy Army Firedawg’s headphone stuff as he tends to keep his videos a little shorter than most.
I also quite like the reviews from The Master Switch for quick consumption. This recent one on the Beyerdynamic Aventho Wireless is certainly entertaining. They are also a review site though so their videos are moreso meant for quick consumption and their full reviews go into more detail.
Pretty much sums it up. Most youtubers and review sites have affiliate links so there is always that danger of inherent bias (people need to make money for their content somehow though) but with him it does really seem like what FOTM headphone can get the most affiliate clicks gets the most hyped up reviews.
Metal571 and Aornic are my go to. Metal gets into the finer details about the frequency response and tonality of each headphone he reviews. It helps that he and I have pretty similar music tastes so I’ve always trusted his recommendations. Aornic gives a very well rounded description of the headphone. He will often do comparisons to multiple headphones of the same price class to give an idea of the sound.
I will admit I do like Zeos for his amp and dac reviews just because he shows off the feature set of each device and many of the down falls/annoyances he comes across.
Sad day. Looks like Tyll has retired from Inner Fidelity.
That’s definitely a blow …
I remember the first time I ever talked with him - which was purely out of chance. This would be back in, oh, 1996 I think. He was CEO of Headroom and I’d called in to order a Headroom Supreme (2nd Ed.) and oddly enough it was Tyll that answered the phone.
Super nice guy … really started this whole thing off … and will definitely be missed!
Nooooo.
He will surely be missed. His site was a daily go-to for me for many years.
Does anyone know who will be taking his place?
This is a sad day indeed. I got to meet Tyll in December 2001 at a headphone meet (immortalized here - https://www.soundstage.com/traveler/traveler200201.htm). He will be sorely missed.
Fantastic topic! I have always stayed away from Youtube and most other online reviewers. I’ve always believed reviews often were simply ways to promote other’s equipment.
After reading this topic I know know that this is not always the case. I now will open my eyes and begin to listen to some of them.
I suppose a good place to start would be looking to our community members as to who might make worthy reviewers. It seems it could be a good way to initially sort out those who are promoting equipment in the marketplace.
Nice link to article. I had never read it and now just a little more educated in the joy of listening.
Was wondering if you guys could also give me a critique , Just started, anything helps.
I’ll second metal571 and Aornic. Besides good content, I find Aornic’s voice soothing.
I also enjoy DMS3TV for his production values, though his reviews can sometimes be a bit too hype filled for my taste.