I get asked this question on occasion by people who’ve read a review of mine but believe I’ve left out what I really think. Are they right?
Let’s begin here—a review should tell us how something sounds, first and foremost, and ideally how the thing under review compares to other things at or around its price in a clear and entertaining manner.
That’s what I think so that’s what I try to do in every review. You’ll notice I did not say that a review should tell us if the reviewer likes or dislikes the thing under review because if that was the point of a review, we could just say “I liked this” or “I didn’t like this” and be done with it.
Imagine going to TM and seeing a new review posted and reading only this—”I really liked it!”
Wouldn’t you want to know why?
Sometimes I think some people don’t really care about Why. Some seem to be more concerned with creating a hifi hierarchy—The Big List of Good Stuff—and its inverse—The Big List of Bad Stuff.
And if something is declared “Good” everyone should like it even if they don’t and if something is “Bad” no one should like it even if they do.
This is the reasoning some people employ when it comes to hifi. No kidding.
Some reviewers perpetuate these hifi hierarchies by picking the “Best” and I’m surprised, shocked even, that no one has created the inverse—The Worst HiFi—which is sure to get more views. In any case, elevating taste to tastemaking status is a bold move that has no appeal for me.
These same people wonder how in the world reviewers can say good things about stuff on the Bad List so they conclude we hide what we really think. “You have to read between the lines.”
“To our strongest impulse, to the tyrant in us, not only our reason but also our conscience yields.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
If you want to know what I really think about a product I’ve reviewed, read more than just that one review so you can put things in context, so you get an idea of how I write. And here’s a super secret—when I really like something I make it a Favorite and when something has an obvious flaw I say so. I know, sneaky.
Epilogue
Back when I was studying painting in college, you could pick out the worst teachers by looking at how many of their student’s made work that resembled their own—the more matches, the worse the teacher.
