A new Radiohead album is being released by the band:
It is downloadable (MP3 and uncompressed WAV) on Saturday. We hope to hear it Sunday [thanks Mike!] burned on a CD. We will be playing it through the Audio Note CDT-5, Fifth Element and Fifth Force digital and perhaps also the Emm Labs XDS1 and 1) see how it compares to ‘CD quality’ and 2) hear their new album 🙂
OK, I threatened to do this… so let’s try to do it without getting us all in too much trouble.
Worthwhile Review
Sound of the piece under review is actually described – in terms of what it does well and what it does not so well.
Clueless Review
Sound is not actually described and instead there is a lot of meaningless hyperbole like: Wonderful vocals, awesome bass, band XYZ sounded extremely good, etc.
Worthwhile Review
Sound is compared to competition [note that some summary of the characteristic sound of the various competition is required otherwise the comparison is worthless / clueless] and to other components from the same company – both above and below the component under review
Clueless Review
It is so common for the phrase “best I’ve heard” to slip into reviews where the reviewer has heard nothing from the competition in this price range or above – i..e this is also the most expensive component the reviewer has ever heard. This type of Clueless Review is also commonly highlighted when the reviewer insists that his modestly priced system, with the less modestly price component under review, sounds better [better is sometimes qualified as ‘highest resolution’ or ‘best dynamics’ or etc.] than any system they have ever heard in their life.
—————————
Let’s see. These two characteristics of Clueless Reviews certainly apply to 90-95% of all reviews in both print and online. Some sites only publish Clueless Reviews like this and nothing else.
Some Clueless Reviews DO have some redeeming value in that they might include historical information about – or an interview with – the manufacturer. Or cool info about the CD they are using to test with. Or whatever, something else unrelated to the supposed actual review of the relative quality of the component under review [like pricing… or photos]
“The 1st CAF went so well that we are having a second! We had approximately 500 people in attendance not including the vendors and manufacturers and plan to have many more for this event.
We are now looking to fill the rooms for the 2011 CAF and have lots of interest for the 2nd event. The 2010 CAF went as planned being a casual fun-filled event for audiophiles, music lovers, music media and vintage audio gear collectors, dealers and manufacturers. Families and many couples came to the event which you don’t see that often. Yes the WAF was felt by all. Great food and beverage (Adult beverages too!) were enjoyed by many. The event included high quality vacuum tube and transistor audio equipment, analog and digital playback sources, buying and selling of vinyl LP records and CDs, and retailers and manufacturers of quality audio gear from the Baltimore – Washington DC Metropolitan Area and beyond. Saturday night we had a live Jazz show with DC native master drummer Nasar Abadey and Supernova and even the host joined in for two numbers (They humored me)! The Sunday Audio Swapmeet went off well with many early morning risers prowling the tables for gear. ”
