Z Reviews Bitching Thread

No they don't like him now that he's said amps make a difference on the HD800... Also the Audeez pronunciation of Audeze is somewhat cringeworthy

 

His comments about the AD2000X's soundstage vs the HD800 just make it seem like he's pandering to his audience and not being objective.

 

I think that's actually his opinion. He lost his audience when he said balanced sounds better and acknowledged differences exist between solid state amps. Incorrect opinion, but I think its legitimate.

 

In our world filled with blatant shillers and hypebeasts I find his attitude refreshing.

He also did a review of the Bifrost and could not hear a difference between it and his Emotiva DAC.

I appreciate the fact that he is smart enough to have a gig where people send him a shitload of gear and he listens for himself and comes to his own conclusions.

Sure he may not be a technical expert and some of his views may be contrary to conventional wisdom but I trust a guy like him above 99% of professional 'reviewers' who wine and dine with company owners.

 

The car analogy with this 2k$ amp amp would be that one mounts offroad tires on a Porsche.

 

Also take into account his practice of selling items he's featured on his channel to his Patreon followers, along with pushing his Amazon referral links on places like Reddit. He has all the makings of a scumbag.

 

I think the HD800 is pretty hard to get into at first. I think it's probably the best headphone i've heard overall with the correct material. If zeos isn't listening to a variety of well recorded stuff, or just a variety of music in general, the HD800 might seem a bit overrated.

I'm not defending Zeos, but he's definitely immersed himself in this hobby pretty quickly, so his opinions are going to defer from others who have been exploring for years and come to appreciate restraint and technicality

Also there's the money side of things

 

I'd agree with this. Personally, I couldn't use the HD800s as a daily driver. Too recording dependent to suit my wide music taste unless I made a conscious decision to only listen to material that sounded good on the HD800. The LCD-2 or T1 leans more towards the daily driver side for me. But to review the HD800s I think you need to make a strong effort to listen to them at their best and then make sure you're careful in documenting their shortfalls in terms of being convenient in terms of logistics.

 

He's not new to the hobby, oddly. He's been around for four years.

He has some golden quotes, like (and I'm paraphrasing...probably poorly):

1) "I don't like the HD800 bass. It's distorted."

2) "Man, these stock T50 mk3's with these alcantara pads are better than the mad dogs!"

3) "My AD2000X had a wider, better soundstage than the HD800."

4) "The HD800 is just not a special headphone."

5) "The M50X was just too neutral."

6) "This Shure 1540 is just too neutral."

7) "The ODAC is just perfect. I can't tell a difference between it or my r2r DAC [during a sighted ABX test.]"

He also has amazon affiliate links AND sells the headphones he buys with patreon right after reviewing them. He's promised giveaways that he never delivered on, and the list goes on.

 

What's patreon and can you elaborate a bit more on the selling the headphones he buys deal?

 

I'm not here to defend the guy, but that was Patreon's rules and his ineptitude at understanding them when he set it up. It wasn't deception.

https://patreon.zendesk.com/hc/en-u...an-I-offer-a-raffle-as-part-of-a-reward-tier-

 

Basically, patreon is a way for people to support content creators by giving them a monthly contribution. He then takes that money, buys headphones, reviews them, then sells them back to the patreon members.

 

Zeos is an example of the problem with YouTube reviewers; they attract viewership by personality rather than expertise. The result is much ignorance and group-think. Whether or not any direct pandering is going on, this is the inevitable result. His "everyman's objectivist"/"budget-fi guru" persona would be palatable if he at least had original ideas that weren't a re-packaging of things he read on nwavguy's blog and r/headphones.

 

I think it might actually just be his lack of critical listening skills.

 

Zeos doesn't listen to music. He actually doesn't listen to the headphones he reviews as he doesn't listen to music; he just clicks rapidly through a list of tracks. He exists just to shill Amazon affiliate links of cheap crap back to the ignorant gamers/ricers who fund his patreon. All of this to stuff his face with Fritos. Zeos also likes Pantera.

 

As much of a reason as any to dislike him.

 

I'll accept Down's first album, but never Pantera.

 

Wonder if Purrin might go this route if web hosting expenses go out of hand again.
Lord know there are a tons of people throwing out money through Patreon to any youtube channel with a decent following.

 

It seems to me that he has been pretty transparent about the sale of the gear purchased via patron contributions, and monetizing his shtick is how all reviewers function. He is obviously enthusiastic about what he is doing and doesn't spout audiophile mumbo jumbo, so I say more power to him.