Are audio reviewers making stuff up?

[Indydan]

Serious question. I recently watched a video by Darko, in which he compares a 75 watt Arcam Class A/B integrated amp to the Wiim amp ultra.
He makes some startling claims... He implies that the Arcam is more powerful than the Wiim. Really? Watts are watts! 100 watts > 75 watts. He then goes into detail about how the Arcam is more this, more that than the Wiim.
I myself know the Wiim compares favorably to my former high end system of Naim separates. What Darko says baffles me.
Then again, his livelihood depends on him being able to "hear" and describe differences bewteen components. He is either fooling himself, or outright making stuff up.

 

[Aquaman]

Serious question. I recently watched a video by Darko, in which he compares a 75 watt Arcam Class A/B integrated amp to the Wiim amp ultra.
He makes some startling claims... He implies that the Arcam is more powerful than the Wiim. Really? Watts are watts! 100 watts > 75 watts. He then goes into detail about how the Arcam is more this, more that than the Wiim.
I myself know the Wiim compares favorably to my former high end system of Naim separates. What Darko says baffles me.
Then again, his livelihood depends on him being able to "hear" and describe differences bewteen components. He is either fooling himself, or outright making stuff up.

A lower rated class A/B amp can indeed have more peak power than a higher speced class-D amp. Class-D amps typically have no ‚peak‘ performance. It is what it nominally is, whereas the peak with class-A/B can be quite excessive. This can be clearly noticable in the bass region performance.

 

[Indydan]

A lower rated class A/B amp can indeed have more peak power than a higher speced class-D amp. Class-D amps typically have no ‚peak‘ performance. It is what it nominally is, whereas the peak with class-A/B can be quite excessive. This can be clearly noticable in the bass region performance.

Thank you for explaining. But, i still think Darko makes some dubious claims in the video I mentionned.
In general, it makes me roll my eyes when reviewers say the old clichés like Class D has less warmth and body, etc.

 

[RazzFazz]

They make money with that business. Even if you click and disagree.

 

[Aquaman]

Thank you for explaining. But, i still think Darko makes some dubious claims in the video I mentionned.
In general, it makes me roll my eyes when reviewers say the old clichés like Class D has less warmth and body, etc.

TBH I never watch such vids, nor do I read the sound evaluation of any kind of audio stuff in tests. I only ready the info on specs, features and price.

 

[RazzFazz]

Always find myself wondering how such enormous click numbers come about when hardly anyone is actually watching?

 

[Aquaman]

Always find myself wondering how such enormous click numbers come about when hardly anyone is actually watching?

Honestly, I swear! I‘m not watching them.

 

[F1 Fan]

I stopped watching his video’s a while ago but this one, caught my eye..

I have to admit, I did agree with him on many points ..

 

[RazzFazz]

Darko seems to be a special case. There could be an exponential relation between opinion and income of the viewers.

 

[Indydan]

I stopped watching his video’s a while ago but this one, caught my eye..

I have to admit, I did agree with him on many points ..

Me too! I agree with those points.
I was a little disappointed though he did not rank audio cables. I would have put them at the bottom rank.

 

[F1 Fan]

Me too! I agree with those points.
I was a little disappointed though he did not rank audio cables. I would have put them at the bottom rank.

Doubt he would mention interconnects, one of his sponsors is AQ

 

[rccarguy]

Thank you for explaining. But, i still think Darko makes some dubious claims in the video I mentionned.
In general, it makes me roll my eyes when reviewers say the old clichés like Class D has less warmth and body, etc.

Speakers also aren't a flat impedence

 

[slartibartfast]

Thank you for explaining. But, i still think Darko makes some dubious claims in the video I mentionned.
In general, it makes me roll my eyes when reviewers say the old clichés like Class D has less warmth and body, etc.

The Arcam probably has higher gain so will be louder for a smaller rotation of the volume control. It is quite common to mistake higher gain for higher power.

 

[MCG555]

One thing is also obvious: Arcam is a longstanding UK based Amp Manufacturer with excellent reputation! WiiM is a US base „nobody“ with great streamers at a nonsense price that now also wants to play in the Amp, Loudspeaker, Subs and other sectors.
Darko is a UK citizen…

Any questions?

 

[Aquaman]

Reviewers are definitely making things up. I recently saw a review of a streamer which comes with an optional extra power supply. The reviewer was full of praise and, surprise, surprise, even more so for the combo with the extra box. How daft can people be?

 

[mrehorst]

For a lot of people in the world, putting food on the table, champagne in the glass, or diesel fuel in the yacht, outweighs any concept of personal integrity. There are those live within the rules of civil society and there are those to whom the rules do not apply. We all have to choose which way we will live. If you come from money, you can live outside the rules without consequences. Jails are built for those who live outside the rules but don't come from money. The rest are sheep, waiting patiently to be shorn.

 

[GeeTee]

Reviewers are definitely making things up. I recently saw a review of a streamer which comes with an optional extra power supply. The reviewer was full of praise and, surprise, surprise, even more so for the combo with the extra box. How daft can people be?

just to play 'devils advocate' wouldnt a separate power supply be easier to replace if needed and mean more space and less heat in the main unit ..

 

[rccarguy]

just to play 'devils advocate' wouldnt a separate power supply be easier to replace if needed and mean more space less less heat in the main unit ..

Considering they can fail I'd prefer external power supplies. I've changed the PSU in couple of devices twice.

 

[harkpabst]

Considering that every single component can fail, we should have each capacitor sit in its own box.

There are pros and cons to every technical solution. I have recapped a (small) number of older power amps, but I cannot remember any internal power supply failing in any of the electronics I use during the last 40 years. Admittedly, I never found the fault in my Philips CD 101 and I do regret binning it back then.

As of today I think that Darko isn't the worst reviewer, by far. It's all subjective and I won't ever trust him rating one device higher than another. But many of his videos are rather entertaining and some reveal pretty serious thinking. As long as you don't take him too seriously, watching his videos will not hurt.

Regarding the topic of this thread the answer is simple. Yes.

 

[rccarguy]

Considering that every single component can fail, we should have each capacitor sit in its own box.

There are pros and cons to every technical solution. I have recapped a (small) number of older power amps, but I cannot remember any internal power supply failing in any of the electronics I use during the last 40 years. Admittedly, I never found the fault in my Philips CD 101 and I do regret binning it back then.

As of today I think that Darko isn't the worst reviewer, by far. It's all subjective and I won't ever trust him rating one device higher than another. But many of his videos are rather entertaining and some reveal pretty serious thinking. As long as you don't take him too seriously, watching his videos will not hurt.

Regarding the topic of this thread the answer is simple. Yes.

Faulty PSU in my TV less than three years old
Faulty PSU in my AV pre amp failed twice
Faulty wall wart adapters twice failed