Internet reviews are a really good way to identify some of the best, most consistently good-value products in almost any hobby or field. If you look at this sub, you would think there are only a dozen brands in the entire hardware industry (I even made a meme about it).
There is so much great gear out there that you will never find reading reviews and forums. Not that there’s anything wrong with LS50’s and Schiit and Topping and SVS and Monoprice. But I think we would all do ourselves a favor to try to listen to a wide array of equipment, especially used equipment, which is often fantastic and worth 10x its cost in sound quality.
Great observation. It’s really tough. Places on the internet tend to be an echo chamber of view points and hostile toward alternative views.
I’m lucky to have great shop in Portland (Echo Audio) that buys & sells nice used/vintage equipment at fair prices along with new equipment they feel is a good value when new (for instance KEF) so a person can listen to a variety of different things in person and decide for themselves instead making a decision based only what they read online. Will admit that I have purchased a variety of things over the years based on what I read online without listening to it first and regretted it every time (for instance equipment from Schiit).
With speakers, I need to hear them. With electronics, I need to hold them in my hand, feel the controls, use them.
Feel the same. Guess I want both. Have a very hard time with electronics unless I hear them at home in my system so even a demo in the store is not enough unless everything else is the same. One shop used to let me take multiple floor models home (cables too) and demo for a few days with everyone else before making a decision.
I mostly buy used, knowing I can resell for a similar price. I figure I take a 20% loss and call it my “rental fee”.