Z Reviews Bitching Thread

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by Bigferret, May 1, 2016.

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  1. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    I am not your friend, Skippy.
     
  2. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Ricer is a derogatory term for those who modify their cars. The cars themselves may be known as "rice rockets" (all this within the Asian modding scene which carries a certain aesthetic with it)
     
  3. OJneg

    OJneg The Most Insufferable

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    I am actually sympathetic to your position comrade. Most people don't realize how dishonest Zeos is with regard to setting up affiliate link farms to profit off of the stuff he "reviews" on his channel and his own subreddit. The "average joe" audio guy is a convincing act that easily fools the uninitiated. In the worlds of the Prophet Marv:

    Whether his acting is sincere or not is irrelevant to the fact that he has a direct financial incentive in hyping budget gear that his fanbase will buy on Amazon with affiliate links. He's been caught on a few occasions hyping really mediocre performing gear (by both "objective" and reasonable subjective standards).

    The irony of this statement is truly special. So I take it you have issue with professional audio reviewers who may slant their opinions in favor of certain manufacturers based on either direct financial benefits (gifts, review samples, etc.) or indirect benefit (fancy dinners, the promise of future exclusive coverage/insight, etc.)..,... But you have absolutely no issue with Zeos profiting directly from the stuff that he OVERWHELMINGLY reviews positively? Do you guys honestly not see the pattern with his shill reviews or are you so blinded by his homemade New Yorker charms? Try to explain how Zeos is any better than a malleable hi-fi shill who writes for audio rag A B or C. As I've said before, it's the same song and dance, simply targeted at a different audience.
     
  4. Senorx12562

    Senorx12562 Case of the mondays

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    I believe that the vast majority of you tubers I see, whether they are reviewing audio gear or something else, are dishonest, stupid, or both. I knew just from seeing his videos that he was the latter, I was unaware of any specific instances of the former. I ALWAYS assume that reviews are done because the reviewer has some financial stake in doing the review, so take them all with a grain of salt. This applies to print (does that still exist outside of Stereophile?), youtube, and face to face at CanJam. I assume that everybody is full of shit. But since Zeos is no different than any of the rest of them, I don't quite get the vitriol as applied to him specifically. I do like his willingness to say he hears no difference between components, which is rare, since the typical response is to denigrate the ears or gear of the skeptic, and the lack of audiophile terminology, most of which is meaningless anyway. If these things are an act undertaken to further his financial interests, more fool me. I thought he really was a doofus. I guess then he is a good actor. I wasn't defending the quality of his reviews, which I find to be pretty unhelpful, but since I don't believe any of them (maybe Tyll, but just maybe) reviews in general aren't very helpful. Don't worry, I won't be posting here anymore, as there are way too many people who are way smarter than I am and I am far too intimidated to continue.
     
  5. OJneg

    OJneg The Most Insufferable

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    So we've gone from:

    "He's a 'refreshing' no-BS reviewer"

    to

    "He doesn't know what he's talking about but he's fun to watch"

    to now

    "He's an idiot/dishonest but so is everyone else so it doesn't matter"

    This is what I would describe as a slippery, passive-aggressive non-argument that does not acknowledge the core of what I am saying. Zeos is not to be trusted as a critical reviewer for (1) his lack of any consistent reviewing standards and (2) his financial conflict of interest in getting as many Amazon clicks as possible. If you like watching a clown riding a rollercoaster in his mancave with prepubescent anime girl wallpapers, then more power to you. But let's dispel the notion that Zeos has any idea what he's talking about. He needs to be thoroughly spanked for his role in misleading audio newbies.
     
  6. HitmanFluffy

    HitmanFluffy Hoping to see real genitals someday!

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    OJ ripping this shill apart like Nicole Brown.
     
  7. Ash1412

    Ash1412 Friend

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    This is where I would point newbies toward metal571's channel. Although he doesn't have much experience with high end amps and uses EQ on the 6x0s, his analysis of each headphone's strengths and weaknesses are pretty spot on, and unlike zeos, he actually does research (sbaf, changstar, inner-fi,...) and tries to correlate that with his own experience. He's one of the few who are able to identify the Grados as shouty instead of bright like the hd800, which puts him in another league compared to zeos or head-fi ads to me.
     
  8. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    I'd rather wrap my ears in boobs than headphones. And if wearing a pair of knickers on my chest gets me more boobs around my ears... pass me the knickers!

    But wait... why be satisfied with half the experience? I'd better start preparing my kickstarter campaign for an entirely new kind of breast implant. Audioboobs?

    I wonder how I'll get people to review them...
     
  9. Friday

    Friday Friend

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    This should be the new SBAF slogan.
     
  10. Zed Bopp

    Zed Bopp Friend

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    Yeah, Z talks way too little about actual SQ. He doesn't seem to have the vocabulary/experience to do so. And to me it's fine, as long as the viewer realizes to not make much of his vague descriptions about the matter.

    On the other hand, I really like how he doesn't make any crazy claims about cables, DACs etc. - things he truly cannot hear. He doesn't seem to make stuff up, like so many silly hifi-reviewers. Lots of headphones can be driven with nicely with cheapo gear - it's a refreshing stance you will not hear on HF etc. Also he is probably the best YT reviewer describing comfort, cables and such. And yes, I like his humor and straight forward style to approaching gear.

    The dude @ Linus has a cool & skeptical stance on headphones and hifi-gear, but he's not really that knowledgeable on hp in general. I especially liked this no-BS review of the Pono Player:
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2016
  11. keanex

    keanex Martian Bounty Hunter - Friend

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    Okay, so I want to clear up how Amazon referral links work as someone who used them in the past. They aren't specific to an item, they are specific to the referral code. If I link you toothpaste, but you continue searching Amazon through that link and purchase a TV, I would get % of the purchase price of the TV for the referral to Amazon, not to the specific item. It doesn't matter what someone attaches his referral to, he's going to get money regardless, as long as you don't click out of the tab that got you into Amazon in the first place.

    So no, he is not getting money specifically for you buying some Emotiva amp through his link, or specifically for Sennheiser, or whatever. He could link you to a toilet seat for all he cares and he'd get the referral money as long as your browsing through his link.

    There's this crazy misconception that's been thrown around here and Reddit about how Amazon referral links work and they're wrong. Now I don't know any of his other practices, but the Amazon referral stuff is far from shady or biased because it frankly doesn't matter what you end up purchasing.

    Plenty of them, I'd wager more do so without monetizing than without, but the well-known ones all monetize in some form or another. Either through ads on their websites, ads on Youtube, or Amazon referral links.

    I'm not attempting to stick up or defend zeos in any way. You guys can say whatever you want about his opinions, that's your opinion and your fine to share it, but the Amazon referral nonsense has bothered me for ages.
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2016
  12. pavement714

    pavement714 New

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    It seems to me the audience that thinks Zeos is 'funny' is the same who sees nothing odd about his gross anime wallpapers and general arrogant attitude without justification #justneckbeardthings
     
  13. SSL

    SSL Friend

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    People keep saying this, that his approach is "refreshing".

    Allow me to disagree.

    There is nothing refreshing or indeed new about some wholesome "salt of the earth" character blathering away at a camera for 20 minutes on YouTube. All while collecting revenue from ads, Amazon affiliate links, and so on. Perhaps not so wholesome after all?

    That is my understanding of affiliate links and I don't think it makes the situation any better. The issue is not only that hype is being created around single products, it's that hype is created around the reviewer, thus increasing viewer following and desire to "support" them through the use of various means. Which brings us back to the hype of specific products - if a reviewer creates noise about some "amazing" hidden gem, they will get additional attention as a welcome side effect, which can then be monetized.
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2016
  14. SpaceLaser

    SpaceLaser Friend

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    Did I ever claim otherwise? He still pushes his affiliate links while hyping up trash products.
     
  15. keanex

    keanex Martian Bounty Hunter - Friend

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    You were just the first to mention it so I figured I'd clear up any misconceptions about how they worked otherwise.
     
  16. SpaceLaser

    SpaceLaser Friend

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    Ah ok, thanks for clearing it all up.
     
  17. Eric_C

    Eric_C Friend

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    Thanks @keanex, I learned something new today!
     
  18. keanex

    keanex Martian Bounty Hunter - Friend

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    Sorry for not being clear, didn't mean to place any words in your mouth.

    I will concede that a glowing review is more likely to make the user click the link in the first place, and also more likely to buy the headphones or at least purchase something with his referral link attached. No arguments there. I just wanted to clear up any potential misconception.

    It's very lucrative in the long-run. I used it for ~1 month or so on a popular review partly to make some money with it, and partly because I wanted to learn how it worked. It was interesting seeing what people bought after clicking my link - most of the stuff wasn't headphones either. If I can pull up the records I'll see about posting them here for transparency as to how it works.
     
  19. keanex

    keanex Martian Bounty Hunter - Friend

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    As promised, here's my transparency. I cut out the irrelevant portion. This was 1 month with my link one 1 review that I can remember. I might have peppered it on a few smaller reviews, but the overwhelming majority was from 1 specific review. Funnily enough when I looked at the dashboard of my defunct affiliates account, I'd still be bringing in ~$50 a month from that review based on clicks and purchases.

    [​IMG]

    That shows the month.

    This picture below will show what the link(s) I put out would have earned had I still had the account active. Bounties is the collected money, Fees is the money I would have earned. That's on 4% "kickback" for referring people to Amazon. 6% is achieved when 7 items are ordered. I imagine that Zeos is pulling in damn good money a month. I'd be surprised if it were less than $1,000, which is phenomenal for it being a side-gig.

    [​IMG]

    So there's how it works, and potential earnings from one popular review, even 3 years later.

    Now it could be argued that his own sub-reddit /r/zeos is mostly self-serving, a way to make money since every link is a referral link. No arguments there. But remember it doesn't matter what item the reader buys, just that they click the link.
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2016
  20. Skyline

    Skyline Double-blindly done with this hobby

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    Where did you get my quote from? Did I even say that in this thread? All of my posts here have been pretty negative towards him.

    However, if I did say that anything about this guy is refreshing then I was simply referring to the fact that he isn't afraid to admit when he doesn't hear something. Over at HF, group-think runs rampant. So, if somebody doesn't hear a difference in gear, and isn't afraid to say so (when it runs contrary to the HF consensus), then I appreciate that.

    But as for his reviews, as a whole, they pretty much make me want to puke into a bucket as the rest of my posts here have made pretty clear.
     
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