SBAF Spring Cleaning

I think another side to that coin is that many of us have been doing this stuff for year and years now. We're much better at guessing, by leveraging a variety of information sources, what will be good and what will suck without hearing it. Magic 8 ball, so to speak.

And, so, we're much more selective about what we buy or borrow to test, especially since so many pieces of gear now go on loaner tours. We want to make sure we're not totally throwing money out the window, like we did with the S19 DAC.

CS also had more ties to Head-Fi. Many CS members had just left Head-Fi or still posted to both sites. As time went on there and at SBAF, I think many of the "core" members became more and more separated from Head-Fi. For example, I have absolutely no idea what goes on over there these days. As such, I generally am not up to speed on all the products in the market, whereas we had more ears to the ground earlier on.

In a similar vein, I think Tyll leaving Innerfidelity, and basically the hobby as a whole, closed a source of information that kept us more in the loop for new products.

Not that we've totally plugged our ears, but I feel we're definitely more isolated in these ways than we used to be, yet have much deeper relationships with valuable industry members. (Yeah, you can poo-poo those relationships if you want, but this always comes from a passion to bring what we think are awesome and/or better products to more enthusiasts.)

However, despite being more isolated in these regards, we're much better about attracting new members from a wider user base than in the past. I think it works itself out nicely. It helps us cut down on noise, since we're not checking out so much crap, while still delivering a valuable service, i.e. finding good gear, to a large audience. Sure, it can give the impression of us being more forgiving, and it's true to some degree.

There is definitely an opportunity to bring in new content, some of that CS feel where we'd test anything and everything. I'm not sure the old guard is in the position to carry that torch quite as much anymore. And so I'd encourage others to try to fill those gaps. If you're new to it all, don't go crazy, but don't be too shy. You'll get more comfortable as time goes on.


Now, I do find it a bit odd...Guys like @purr1n have purposely tried to be more understanding when it comes to a wider variety of listener tastes than in the past. See his comments about putting on his NOS hat when checking out the Morpheus as just one example. It's all still within some well-defined boundaries, I think, and so it seems to be more beneficial for a larger member base without giving the impression that "everything is awesome." Still lots of weeding out bad gear. And we do have to be careful about not slinging too much shit so as to not stifle potential too early.

Personally, I don't feel there's anywhere near as much pressure to have specific gear as there used to be back in the CS or early SBAF days. Schiit wasn't as large of a presence back in the CS days, at least not until later on, so the "Schiit shill" tag wasn't particularly prevalent. But the pressure to think along certain lines felt stronger...Or, at least, it did to me.

Now, as to what I find odd about all of this, somehow we're given shit for being more forgiving but also for being Schiit shills, pushing too much group think, etc. Which is it? To me, that signals a strong lack of holistic thinking in some individuals. Still given the whole picture careful thought and don't think the community is for you? Totally normal. Just don't make it weird.

I mean, if you have a counter opinion on gear, lay down your honest, constructive thoughts on it...no? Sometimes you'll be the lone voice in the room. Maybe someone will catch on and find some agreement with you down the road, and maybe not. Maybe you'll find some others that share your thoughts but didn't want to speak out. Maybe you will have influence, and maybe not.

Who cares either way? Try to understand why others think the way they do, why they hear what they hear, but don't let it shrivel your genitals if there's still lingering dissonance in your mind or between yourself and others. No one really cares what you do or don't like as long as you're not an angry, bitter mouth breather about it all. And don't forget, building positive influence takes time and care.

Compare and contrast past vs current interactions between @Psalmanazar and @purr1n (or SBAF as a whole). Make note of what caused friction and what built new conversations. Often, it wasn't so much a difference in content or message, but the overall approach and presentation. Now we have some added avenues when it comes to new gear to explore, some of which members found really suited their tastes!

Guys, this shit isn't hard. If it is, reconsider the origination of your struggles.

 

Don't worry, we will be iFi shills soons.

 

Isn't the idea that roasts involve all parties being present and having agreed to be part of the roast?

But, hey, at least I can still hear above 2KHz!

 

Count how many pieces of Schiit are in the featured articles home page going back four pages.

Last time I reviewed a True-High-End™ piece of gear, it was the Rockna Wavedream, which I happened to think was the bee-knees, easily crushing any Schiit DAC. How many people cared about that? Not saying the article was bad or that I won't on occasion cover something special like that - I know one person who benefited and thanked me for it. How many views did it get? The fact is, True-High-End™ is dead for the common person.

SBAF is fanfare for the common man (pun intended).