Anyone still trust expert reviews?

[goraman]

Or expert opinions for that matter.
read the review on the Audio cap ( Thea)
http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html

A different review.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=3i8cd2u2t618kd7av12ina6502q076 ng&topic=54218.0


http://singaporehifi.blogspot.com/2010/09/capacitor-shoot-out.html

The first 2 reviews using the Audiocap Thea had completely different opinions.
I find them to be very analog,with loads of sparkle after 50 to 60 hours of break in,and they do need to break in,then it's like Wow who opened the door?

Would you choose one capacitor over another based on these kinds of reviews?

Look at the clarity cap reviews, nothing special but did they give them proper break in time?
Because even though most of there caps are rolled off at the top end just a little,they have a fantastic mid range and mid bass.

I think all caps should be run in for 100 hours before any review is made, and line voltage readings should be monitored to be sure of stable input power.

What do you guys think of these kinds of shoot outs?

[WOStantonCS100]

Luv the new avatar! :lol:

I've been very skeptical of "expert" reviews for a long, long time. It's why I stopped buying Stereophile altogether. Nowadays when reading a review, like you pointed out, I pay considerable attention to just how long the reviewer has lived with item in question. Anything less than several months, I take with a grain of salt.

I keep my stuff for a long time; so, I'm more interested in how something sounds 6 months to a year down the road with periodic check-ins thereafter. Because, everything's always great... ...the first week. ;)

[goraman]

Luv the new avatar! :lol:

I've been very skeptical of "expert" reviews for a long, long time. It's why I stopped buying Stereophile altogether. Nowadays when reading a review, like you pointed out, I pay considerable attention to just how long the reviewer has lived with item in question. Anything less than several months, I take with a grain of salt.

I keep my stuff for a long time; so, I'm more interested in how something sounds 6 months to a year down the road with periodic check-ins thereafter. Because, everything's always great... ...the first week. ;)

I'm with you, It also seems there is brand favoritism,ie major advertisers always come out ok.
Ever hear a truly bad review?
Have you ever read a largely negitive review 4 example.
reviewers conclusion, Over priced crap!
Never going to happen,everything is varying shades of grandeur.

You can't even be sure what that new piece of equipment will sound like till it's been run in over several mouths,then it should remain the same for 10 years till things start to drift out of both spec and bias.

[MartinT]

They were probably evaluated using completely different circuits, possibly with or without DC blocking duties. Both reviews read as honest attempts to evaluate the caps, so use them as you would any review: as a guideline only.

Only one of them reviews Auricaps, which I use in the Caiman. I agree with that finding.

[sq225917]

Foil caps requiring running in, whatever next.

[goraman]

Foil caps requiring running in, whatever next.

Don' t forget foil and metalized film, and yes, they do change dramatically after a couple of months, they get smoother,more open sounding and the shimmer of ride symbles and the crisp sound of a hi hat being closed when a drum stick hits all has a more open realistic timber after the cap has had some time on it.

Clarity caps S/A and ESR seem to take the longest time then one day you just notice wow!
Listen to that! once broken in they just pull you into the music, I don't know what changes happen after 80 to 100 hours but the change is real and I have heard it with several speakers having used this cap a lot.
Same go's for the Audio Cap Thea as I have seen the same thing happen in tweeter circuits after awhile they just give you a hell of alot more than when you put them in green.
Caps that seem not to change to me have been Solon,Benic,and russian paper oil caps.

I am now playing with some Obbligato gold caps but it is still to early to tell if they will change much as I have not hit 100 hours and won't till after this coming week end and being they are mixed with Clarity ESR caps it would be hard to tell. It has sounded pretty sweet from day one but I have noticed a bit more detail in upper mids and a little more openess in the top end over the last month. But this happens with clarity caps over time by them selves so I cant say the OB gold has changed much.

[sq225917]

Do you find that if left unused for a significant period after an initial running in that they require running in again?

[goraman]

Do you find that if left unused for a significant period after an initial running in that they require running in again?

No, it may get better after a few minutes but for example I have a pair of old Mission 762i with Clarity cap SA in the crossovers.
when I first put them in, the top end seemed a little dark,I ordered a pair of M caps and they where on back order for 6 weeks, the crazy thing is after running them for 5 more weeks something happened and the top end came to life so I canceled the back order.
Those speakers have been recapped for over 5 years now and they sat for 2 months before installing them in my wife's new salon and they fired up sounding great. They may have improved by a small margin after a few minutes but to be honest I was to busy to notice.

I do think electrolytic caps may get better after sitting for a long time as they are a different animal inside.

[jandl100]

... Nowadays when reading a review, like you pointed out, I pay considerable attention to just how long the reviewer has lived with item in question. Anything less than several months, I take with a grain of salt.

Well, you should always take reviews with a grain of salt, imo.

You need to know the reviewers preferences in musical presentation. One person's treble shriek is another's openness and clarity, for example.

You also need to know what equipment is being compared to ... if the reviewer's reference is significantly 'inferior' to what you are used to, then his hearty recommendation might not apply in your own system.

___


As for having to hear kit for several months before you are fit to express an opinion, well I don't agree with that at all! :nono: ;)

One minute can be enough for me to reject a component (my gawd, the wallpaper's peeling off! :eek: .... or where's the midrange rez gone? :scratch:), although often enough several days can be needed to settle in and start to hear the particular balance of vices and virtues of equipment, especially in the dynamic and imaging domains, rather than the tonal.

I've had my speakers for 20 months now, and I honestly don't think that a review of them after I'd had them a week would be substantially different than if I did one now.

[DSJR]

Are there any real "experts" left now? I mean, in the UK, even the 1980's "Guru's" often had commercial and "consultancy" work that risked colouring their impartiality and many/most of these are getting on a bit so their hearing won't be as acute as it once was when Naim CB ruled the UK waves..... The subjective lot are and always have been a total no-no, unless you share the views of the writer, in which case you may be onto a good thing in your quest for "this month's better sound..."

Having sites like this, where there can be broad agreement on many things, as well as vigorous discussion and debate about others, is far more useful I believe and so many of us have wildly differing systems as "ways of doing it" for it to be extremely entertaining along the way :)

[jandl100]

Yep, I gave up on the mags a while back. Been a year or more since I even looked at one.

I had a Stereophile subscription for about 15 years, but finally gave up on their mix of stratospheric-priced gear, computer-geek audio, and "let's have a quick look at some cheapo-crap for the masses" editorial approach. Towards the end I'd estimate that 2/3rds or more of their reviews were of no interest to me at all, I didn't even bother reading them.

The internet forums do it nicely for me now. You soon get to know folks' particular idiosyncrasies and who's overall views are in line with your own and are therefore worth heeding and who to apply that 5Kg keg of salt to. :eyebrows:
And box-swapping (i.e. actually trying things out!) is dead easy with a mix of the forum classifieds and eBay. And I've gained a whole bunch of friends, quite a few of whom are close enough to go-a-visiting to and from. :thumbsup:

[prestonchipfryer]

Having sites like this, where there can be broad agreement on many things, as well as vigorous discussion and debate about others, is far more useful I believe and so many of us have wildly differing systems as "ways of doing it" for it to be extremely entertaining along the way :)

For me this forum has been a real 'ear-opener'. As for the hi-fi 'comics' well no thanks, all skewed and full of drippy drossy nonsense. :rolleyes: IMOOF.

[WOStantonCS100]

As for having to hear kit for several months before you are fit to express an opinion, well I don't agree with that at all! :nono: ;)

One minute can be enough for me to reject a component (my gawd, the wallpaper's peeling off! :eek: .... or where's the midrange rez gone? :scratch:), although often enough several days can be needed to settle in and start to hear the particular balance of vices and virtues of equipment, especially in the dynamic and imaging domains, rather than the tonal.

I've had my speakers for 20 months now, and I honestly don't think that a review of them after I'd had them a week would be substantially different than if I did one now.

I see where you're coming from. Pure crap has the almost impossible task of trying to conceal itself. Yes, I agree. In those instances, it doesn't take more than a second to toss them out of the pool. Still, in the case of your speakers, I'd lean more heavily on your 20 month review than your first week review. In my mind, there is substantially more real world experience, with which to boost a potential buyers confidence.

[goraman]

A good example for me would be a brand new pair of Grado SR325i headphones.
After having a couple pair the SR80 and SR225 I thought they would be a good choice.
I let them run in for over 200 hours in hope that the shrillness would be tamed with break in.
It never happened 5 min. was more than unbearable.
It was like a swarm of stinging wasps had been driven into my inner most ears, sonicly speaking.
I really tried to like them but it was never going to happen,I knew and accepted that the SR series don't have much if any sound stage but the driving needling in the SR325i was just to much unless you have serious hearing loss in the upper ranges.

[jandl100]

.... Still, in the case of your speakers, I'd lean more heavily on your 20 month review than your first week review. In my mind, there is substantially more real world experience, with which to boost a potential buyers confidence.

Ah, well. My one week review went into substantial depth.

All you need to know in the 20 month review is that I've still got them and have no plans whatsoever to change them! :thumbsup: :D

... Well, OK ... I could go into some excessive verbiage about my experience with different amps to drive them blah blah blah. But the essentials were captured after 1 week and haven't changed significantly. :)