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RIP Smokin Joe One of the best, during a time loaded with great heavyweights. (That actually fought each other)

As an amateur, I'll add to the chorus - Nice post, Carl. I have only had conversations in person with four of you here, so an insider I am not. But I have, over the years (thirty-six) that I have used Stax, noticed a pattern about headphone comments and reviews. Everyone who likes some non stat phone better than whatever the current Stax flagship may be is after something Stax does not yield. More often than not (= between usually and always), it is a desire to hear more bass than there is on the recording. Nothing wrong with that, but the point to me is that they are after something Stax has gone to great lengths to avoid. I use this "knowledge" in two ways. In most cases I note that, not being a bass head to that extent and being a consistent seeker of realism and transparency, I simply conclude that the reviewer probably hears just fine but has a very different set of audio priorities than I do. Secondly, if said writer/poster is very high on a new offering, I wait for it. Sooner or later the initial impression wears off and is modified downward. If it is not about the new Stax flagship, that is. When someone who is seeking the same flavor of sonic bliss as I am continues to feel the Stax flagship inferior to something else, then I take notice. It is just that I haven't seen it happen yet. Then again I haven't read everything ever written... BTW, I am very high on Tyll's reviews and trust what he tells me with only the test of time to moderate my impression - and his.

Wow. First off, thanks for reminding me that Debbie Harry was/is a major babe. Who can sing. I'll have to dig out an old LP or two. I liked her back in the day. Half a dozen pages ago, Grawk said that if Tyll can trash a piece of gear in a review, some random schmuck should certainly be able to. Gotta disagree. Tyll CAN trash a piece of gear. He has the expertise and the reputation to say that something blows and back up his point. The best (or worst) some random clown like, say - me - can do is say we didn't like something. Or that we liked part of it and didn't like some other part. It's totally subjective. Some extreme cases aside, you can't really peg something as awful without making some technical judgments. It's way presumptuous for some amateur clown to go there. <rant-within-rant> And it burns me up, BTW, when somebody without the background to do so tries to make technical arguments about subjective observations. I hate that.</end sub-rant> So, I would argue that amateur clowns of good will, honesty and reasonable intelligence will usually write favorable reviews because they really aren't qualified to do otherwise. Then there's motivation. I would imagine the first instinct of the non-douche amateur would-be reviewer would be to tell his or her friends about some wonderful discovery. That's another filter that favors positive reviews.Then ego steps in and said person wants to be the first to break the news, the loudest voice in the chorus and whatnot and before you know it, amateur reviewing becomes a hobby in it's own right. Then it's a slippery slope. People who don't have the inhibitions and responsibilities of the pros find themselves in the payola-filled universe the pros live in without the background to deal with it as well as the pros do. (which isn't quite spotlessly, shall we say). Vendors would have to be nuts not to take advantage. Yeah, if I was really confident in my product, I'd risk a shot with Tyll and the guy from that other magazine. They have credibility and authority. Do well there and you'll move some product. But I'd make damn sure I hedged my bets with some of these amateur guys. For all those reasons, I take all that stuff with a huge grain of salt. While we don't want the noise here on Head-Case, I guess it's fine where it's fine. For me, if Vicki (to unfairly single out one person) says she likes something, that's all she's got to say, because I know she can hear and I know she usually hears more or less the same stuff I do. If a stranger is talking, and he wants to exert more influence than some random voice in a crowd, he better be a stranger with some authority and a track record. Which usually describes a professional. I just read Skylab's review. it all seems reasonable enough, but I just don't trust his ears as far as I can throw them with the rest of his body attached. Tyll and JP are gaga over the 'phones in question.Them, I trust. And Tyll is in fact a professional. So there. It's just an artifact of the internet world that we have hobbyists trying t take the place of pros. It's up to us to apply the grain of salt and it's up to them to realize they're gonna get trashed just like the pros if they take themselves a little too seriously.