I wouldn’t agree that Skylab is untruthful in his reviews. I agree that he doesn’t have the critical ear as we do in HC, and because of it, he tends to give good reviews to gear that we don’t like. He also doesn’t have the degree of technical knowledge that many of us do, nor does he care about that level of technical knowledge. And because of that, he can gloss over technical problems in design that most of us can’t. I don’t have that technical knowledge either, but I do know that my ears don’t often agree with his. And I also know that technical design does influence sound; even if I don’t have the knowledge, I like to read about it. And I can’t pretend that poor design or bad parts don’t matter because ‘the sum is greater than the individual parts’ or ‘synergy’ or something of that sort. So I read his reviews with that in mind.
But I do think he is genuinely reporting what he hears, and therefore not being untruthful, even if what he hears is in total disagreement with what we hear. Yes, I’m sure Skylab gets a rush out of the attention and validation. I just don’t think he does it to be dishonest, or to be a shill. He is also a charismatic guy, and people are drawn to that at HF. So yes, manufacturers like to have a charismatic guy with the ear and technical knowledge of a layperson report great things about their stuff online. It’s great for their business!
I think it’s important that those with a more critical ear and/or more technical knowledge call him out when they hear something that he doesn’t, or when he doesn’t state important technical info. The folks at HF do also need to see the more critical stuff in their threads. There might be someone who really gets it - maybe some who is new, or someone who doesn’t mind the HF noise, but does enjoy seeing the critical and informative posts. Kudos to you folks who can stand going over there and who are even willing to post there. I don’t have the patience.
But the vast majority of regular people (ie, HF) just aren’t that critical or knowledgeable, and don’t get it when someone enters such a post. Just as we don’t care for their attitude or posts here. That’s why HC is here, and why I prefer HC. J