What's the point of you tube comparisons.

Devil#20

Like the title says. You can't decide whether you want to buy speaker A or speaker B or even C so you watch a few videos on yt of somebody doing back to back comparisons playing a series of clean and crunched tones on all contenders. Finishes by not offering their own opinions but asking you which you preferred and why and if you like the video then click and subscribe?

All well and good but the sound has come out via your TV or computer speaker so I can't tell the difference between any of them. They all sound exactly the same (as you would expect). Am I missing something here? 

RickLucas

Headphones.

theatreanchor

I can tell the difference and have made many decisions based on content such as you described. It absolutely serves a purpose. 

mrkb

It annoys me when the "back to back" sounds are 60 seconds+ part ! I need to hear them as the same 5 second riffs alternating between the two speakers- I cant remember slight detail differences when the audio is minutes apart and theyve played a different riff style in the middle!  grrrr!!!

monquixote

On the one hand where things do sound different it can show it quite well.

On the other it does highlight that a lot of gear sounds the same. Danish Pete playing through loads of variants of overdrive pedals some of which cost ten times as much as others highlights that very well.

distressed

I love hearing some nice pentatonics and classic rock licks on jazzmasters, dirty fuzzes and ring modulators on YT gear reviews.

Clecko

monquixote said:

On the one hand where things do sound different it can show it quite well.

On the other it does highlight that a lot of gear sounds the same. Danish Pete playing through loads of variants of overdrive pedals some of which cost ten times as much as others highlights that very well.

Agree. Does anyone do this better than JHS?

fastonebaz

If a you tubers playing style matches your style,  and you trust their opinion, then when they perform A B testing if they prefer A because it's best for their style which is also your style, you may feel inclined to accept that as a good recommendation. 

chrisj1602

fastonebaz said:

If a you tubers playing style matches your style,  and you trust their opinion, then when they perform A B testing if they prefer A because it's best for their style which is also your style, you may feel inclined to accept that as a good recommendation. 

I think this is a good point. We know gear will sound different in “real life” but you can work out whether the review is relevant to you or not and take from it what you will. We all know who the sponsored “everything is awesome” ones are.

Jono111

Sometimes I find that after watching enough comparisons I decide I don't really want anything, which is good.

Musicman20

Jono111 said:

Sometimes I find that after watching enough comparisons I decide I don't really want anything, which is good.

Same! 

Devil#20

Jono111 said:

Sometimes I find that after watching enough comparisons I decide I don't really want anything, which is good.

I spent more time than I really should listening to amp speaker reviews yesterday. It was only when I connected up a Chord Mojo and Grado headphones to the laptop that I could discern the differences in various speakers. Listening through the TV or Laptop speakers is a complete waste of time. I've still not bought anything but think I'll take a punt on a Fane. 

BillDL

I agree that sometimes a comparison video can seem unresolved where the presenter doesn't offer an opinion or preference and just says "let me know in the comments".  I can see the reasoning behind not wanting to influence people that might buy a speaker they have touted and it not sounding remotely what it sounded like in the video, or (if they have been provided with the speakers by manufacturers) not wanting to take a side and cut off a potential source of sponsorship revenue, but I would sometimes like to know a reasoned preference so that I can disregard it or agree with it based on what I heard.  The problem is always going to be describing why?  If somebody says "midrangey" or "sparkling" or "boomy" or "punchy", their descriptions can differ from what others might take those descriptors to mean.  Conversely if a presenter blabbers on about the specifications and shows various graphs, the vast majority of people wouldn't be able to make an informed opinion or even form a rough idea of how the speakers might sound.

fretmeister

I've got studio monitors so I can hear differences easily.

It's a bit weird blaming the video maker for a viewer not listening with adequate kit.

theatreanchor

fretmeister said:

I've got studio monitors so I can hear differences easily.

It's a bit weird blaming the video maker for a viewer not listening with adequate kit.

Wizzzzzzzz

Tannin

I agree and disagree. Yes, it's not really possible to get a complete picture from a YT video. All else aside, you are hearing a different player with (probably) a different style in a different room. You often don't know what microphone was used and even if you do you probably don't know quite what that means for the sound, and you usually don't know what FX were applied. Throw in the final factor that I play acoustic and every wooden acoustic guitar is different to every other acoustic guitar anyway, and there is an argument for saying that watching the video is useless.(And I haven't even touched on my own speakers as a factor.)

On the other hand, it does at least give a rough idea. 

Sum up: I'd much rather have a rough idea than no idea.

Tannin

PS: "let me know in the comments" is a You-tube thing. Channels get bumped up to the top of your YT feed because they have likes, subscribers and comments. For this reason, every You-tuber tries to get you to comment.

Devil#20

fretmeister said:

I've got studio monitors so I can hear differences easily.

It's a bit weird blaming the video maker for a viewer not listening with adequate kit.

I didn't. 

Devil#20

Tannin said:

I agree and disagree. Yes, it's not really possible to get a complete picture from a YT video. All else aside, you are hearing a different player with (probably) a different style in a different room. You often don't know what microphone was used and even if you do you probably don't know quite what that means for the sound, and you usually don't know what FX were applied. Throw in the final factor that I play acoustic and every wooden acoustic guitar is different to every other acoustic guitar anyway, and there is an argument for saying that watching the video is useless.(And I haven't even touched on my own speakers as a factor.)

On the other hand, it does at least give a rough idea. 

Sum up: I'd much rather have a rough idea than no idea.

This is roughly what I'm saying. 

Tannin said:

PS: "let me know in the comments" is a You-tube thing. Channels get bumped up to the top of your YT feed because they have likes, subscribers and comments. For this reason, every You-tuber tries to get you to comment.

And this it the usual 'end credits', which you can't blame them for doing to be fair. 

As an aside if they have been provided with the product for free or for review or are sponsored for it then it is a legal requirement to declare this in the video. Some admit they have but say their review is not influenced by that sweetener and is an honest review. Read into that what you will but I'm not convinced on the impartiality if they rave about it. 

Anyway, the Fane F70 sits here with me in a box. It'll be going in the Blues Junior either Friday evening or Saturday morning but I'll have to run it in to give a fair review of it. 

roberty

YouTube is good for feature demonstrations, but signal chains are highly interactive so beyond broad strokes you really have to experiment and try things. I've ended up using lots of gear that in my head I wouldn't have thought would work. Stuff that I was excited about turned out to be unsuitable

Devil#20

roberty said:

YouTube is good for feature demonstrations, but signal chains are highly interactive so beyond broad strokes you really have to experiment and try things. I've ended up using lots of gear that in my head I wouldn't have thought would work. Stuff that I was excited about turned out to be unsuitable

Yes, this @roberty. It's better than nothing but in an ideal world you audition it "in person" but that's neither possible nor feasible for the most part, as you've found out. I'm the same. Works the other way too of course. Bought some good stuff that I expected might be not so good.