Unbiased reviews and why I think they are important

[Julleeee]

Dear Linus Team,

 

I have been watching your Videos for a long time now and have learnt a lot from you. One reason I am watching is that most of your reviews are very unbiased, leaving the viewer with the ability to make their own decisions. However, recently I have been noticing a trend in your videos that turn more and more into biased / opinion driven content.

 

I`ll use your recent video about the audiophile network switch. Overall the video clearly points out a problematic product that seems to decieve the customer. But specifically in the first part where Linus takes a look at the website and the product in general, It is absolutely biased and with yet no proof given. Opinions are to be told, but only after facts and data are presented so that the viewer can decide for him/her self wether they agree or not. Maybe putting that part after the tests and starting of neutral would be a better approach. Also, I didn`t think the tests you did were sufficient, as one viewer commented:

"

dungeonseeker

Its actually incredibly easy to compare two audio waveforms thanks to waveform interferometry. Grab a really high quality PCM recorded, record a .wav from each stream, pull both waveforms into an audio editor, invert one of them then combine them together and you will be left with the exact difference between the two.

"

The rest of the video was just as informative and great as I am used to by your channel.

 

A similar Issue was presented in a video about apple. While you did address it in the podcast, i don`t think the real issue is solved yet. Opinions have to clearly presented as such. Ranting cant be included in a level headed review. It helps neither the reputability of your channel/reviews, nor does it help the viewer decide what is best for them. (And btw, I am not defending apple on the points you made, i believe many of them are true / are valid opinions and criticism. I am just not happy with the way the were talked about/ brought up.)

 

Being unbiased and level headed in reviews is extremly important. Expecially if you are trying to bring these tests closer to a wider audience and making them more understandable / reputable comes with sticking to facts, as you always have to back up your opinions. Even more so to a big audience, where you have an actual responsibility to do so.

 

I hope you consider my criticism and maybe dial back the opinionated content, as you have for so many amazing videos in the past.

 

Best,

Julius

 

PS.: excuse any english mistakes i made as it is not my first language

 

Links to the audiophile video I adressed:

(from the intro until ~ 6:15)

Edited November 1, 2022 by Julleeee
Wrong terminology

[Motifator]

That's not a network card, that's a switch. God forbid an audiofool network card, as if Killer NICs weren't enough... (gaming NIC). The good NICs are stuff like Intel, QNAP to a degree, Aquinox, etc... from company that actually make networking products...

and honestly, there should be no explanation needed as to why an overly expensive audiophile switch is A SCAM. 

It's like looking at a Lambo and asking why it's a money pit. Everyone knows right from the start, it will consume a lot of gas, let alone the more technical bits.

[Julleeee]

3 minutes ago, Motifator said:

That's not a network card, that's a switch. God forbid an audiofool network card, as if Killer NICs weren't enough... (gaming NIC). The good NICs are stuff like Intel, QNAP to a degree, Aquinox, etc... from company that actually make networking products...

and honestly, there should be no explanation needed as to why an overly expensive audiophile switch is A SCAM. 

It's like looking at a Lambo and asking why it's a money pit. Everyone knows right from the start, it will consume a lot of gas, let alone the more technical bits.

Sure, I am not arguing for the switch (sorry, I used the wrong word ^^ I know the difference, just didnt know the english word. Ill edit it out.) It is obviusly a scam, as an audiophile myself and it student I obviusly know its a scam. For people who maybe dont know much about audio or tech stuff it might not. Therefore I am more concernded about the way the conveyed it.

[Motifator]

2 minutes ago, Julleeee said:

Sure, I am not arguing for the switch (sorry, I used the wrong word ^^ I know the difference, just didnt know the english word. Ill edit it out.) It is obviusly a scam, as an audiophile myself and it student I obviusly know its a scam. For people who maybe dont know much about audio or tech stuff it might not. Therefore I am more concernded about the way the conveyed it.

Yeah I think they might have rolled over it too fast, but I don't think that should even be the topic of focus. The matter of actual fact is, audiofools getting scammed for their personal enjoyment. That's where the video is trying to get to.

[Julleeee]

1 minute ago, Motifator said:

Yeah I think they might have rolled over it too fast, but I don't think that should even be the topic of focus. The matter of actual fact is, audiofools getting scammed for their personal enjoyment. That's where the video is trying to get to.

That is correct, but maybe show the facts first and then talk about it being a scam instead of how it is now. Again, I agree with the video, but it is not unbiased, which, even in cases like this, it should be.

[Arika]

Lmg don't market themselves on having unbiased reviews,  at least not in their current youtube channels, maybe once labs kicks off, but that will be confined to labs content.

 

If you're after unbiased reviews, you're on the wrong channel. 

[Thomas4]

The one thing that you either forgot about or possibly even never knew, the teaser is written after the review has been shot and edited.

[Julleeee]

3 minutes ago, Thomas4 said:

The one thing that you either forgot about or possibly even never knew, the teaser is written after the review has been shot and edited.

I am aware that that might be the case, but that doesnt make a difference for the viewer, who watches it before the rest. It felt very in your face without any actual evidence backing everything up. This is a style of video lmg usually wont do, but has ben doing more and more recently.

[manikyath]

the problem with capturing the audio and comparing the waveforms is exactly what it's trying to fix:

 

the human element.

 

they could just capture the output waveform of both setups, compare, conclude it's identical and end the video.. but that doesnt explain why the product has a lot of positive reviews with people claiming it improved things for them... which is where the "could you tell a difference" round of LMG employees comes in: a few claimed they could, but in a blind A/B test those who claimed they could, didnt reliably choose the audiophile thing.

 

what does this tell you: when being told there is a difference, people will start to hear a difference.but when having to blindly point out which is the better solution, they will not be able to point out the better device reliably.

 

the problem with 'audiofool' stuff also isnt wether it actually helps or not.. it's that it preys on the desire of people to not feel like they made a bad choice. you dont need an independant review to know that a hot snotted switch wont change a darn thing. you need an independant review to learn that humans will hear differences if they want to hear them, wether or not those differences exist in the first place.

[Thomas4]

If users took the time to watch and more importantly understand the review, this is where their informed as to why, in this case it is a scam.

 

[Julleeee]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:50 PM, manikyath said:

the problem with capturing the audio and comparing the waveforms is exactly what it's trying to fix:

 

the human element.

 

they could just capture the output waveform of both setups, compare, conclude it's identical and end the video.. but that doesnt explain why the product has a lot of positive reviews with people claiming it improved things for them... which is where the "could you tell a difference" round of LMG employees comes in: a few claimed they could, but in a blind A/B test those who claimed they could, didnt reliably choose the audiophile thing.

 

what does this tell you: when being told there is a difference, people will start to hear a difference.but when having to blindly point out which is the better solution, they will not be able to point out the better device reliably.

 

the problem with 'audiofool' stuff also isnt wether it actually helps or not.. it's that it preys on the desire of people to not feel like they made a bad choice. you dont need an independant review to know that a hot snotted switch wont change a darn thing. you need an independant review to learn that humans will hear differences if they want to hear them, wether or not those differences exist in the first place.

Absolutely, that is a very interesting point. The human bias towards the thing they thing is right seems to exist. But in case of the product, it is more interesting wether it actually makes a difference or not, not wether (presumably non-audiophiles, since it wasnt specified otherwise) can hear it or not. Maybe having both tests would be interesting, since the 800 dollar markup is so huge, it would actually be interesting if both tests had the same result.

 

However I dont agree with your last statement. reviews are about the product, not about human psychological effects. As interesting as they might be. It also was not the focal point of the video.

 

On 11/1/2022 at 11:52 PM, Thomas4 said:

If users took the time to watch and more importantly understand the review, this is where their informed as to why, in this case it is a scam.

 

Then make a tldr in the beginning, tearing apart the website and not actually saying a short summary of the content doesnt help the impatient viewer

 

On 11/1/2022 at 11:39 PM, Arika S said:

Lmg don't market themselves on having unbiased reviews,  at least not in their current youtube channels, maybe once labs kicks off, but that will be confined to labs content.

 

If you're after unbiased reviews, you're on the wrong channel. 

I know that lmg has made no promisses of beeing unbiased, but still they usually let the facts speak first and then go to the opinions. Recently that has changed in some videos, which I think hurts the reputability of lmg.

[IkeaGnome]

9 minutes ago, Julleeee said:

Then make a tldr in the beginning, tearing apart the website and not actually saying a short summary of the content doesnt help the impatient viewer

That's the definition of instant gratification for the type of people that go to LTT for actual reviews. First minute of the video gives them a reason to get the pitchforks out. 

They know their audience. I think you're forgetting who their audience is. 

I'm not saying your points are wrong, they're just aimed at the wrong channel if that makes sense. 

[Thomas4]

They do, that's why good reviewers title their video's the way they do.This review in particular case was titled,

"It's time for some hard truth THIS IS A SCAM!" While prominently displaying the product in question.

 

[Julleeee]

10 minutes ago, IkeaGnome said:

That's the definition of instant gratification for the type of people that go to LTT for actual reviews. First minute of the video gives them a reason to get the pitchforks out. 

They know their audience. I think you're forgetting who their audience is. 

I'm not saying your points are wrong, they're just aimed at the wrong channel if that makes sense. 

I get your point, and yes, that is probably what they are trying to do (although I don’t think the part I’m referring to is scripted. It is significantly different to the later parts where Linus actually has a script) but I don’t think that is the right direction to go, especially since they are trying to establish themselves as respected independent reviewers with Linus labs.

[IkeaGnome]

2 minutes ago, Julleeee said:

It is significantly different to the later parts where Linus actually has a script

I don't think it was scripted either, and look at what happens way more often when he doesn't have a script than when he does. He knows his audience and he panders to them. Can't fault him for it, but it's how he is.

"Trust me bro" "Privateers" and many others are from the WAN show where he has no script.

4 minutes ago, Julleeee said:

especially since they are trying to establish themselves as respected independent reviewers with Linus labs.

For sure. It's going to be a long time before I "trust" anything they put out that can't be immediately confirmed or denied by a few other sources.

[Julleeee]

1 minute ago, IkeaGnome said:

I don't think it was scripted either, and look at what happens way more often when he doesn't have a script than when he does. He knows his audience and he panders to them. Can't fault him for it, but it's how he is.

"Trust me bro" "Privateers" and many others are from the WAN show where he has no script.

For sure. It's going to be a long time before I "trust" anything they put out that can't be immediately confirmed or denied by a few other sources.

Definitely, it’ll take me some time to trust their reviews as well. But I still think they are having an amazing start, with openly showing their equipment and what it is capable of, and showing exactly what kind of test they are doing as well as sharing the programs they are using. If it weren’t for the rants here they would be far ahead of many other reviewers.

[Julleeee]

12 minutes ago, Thomas4 said:

They do, that's why good reviewers title their video's the way they do.This review in particular case was titled,

"It's time for some hard truth THIS IS A SCAM!" While prominently displaying the product in question.

 

This doesn’t solve the issue of making claims about a website that has nothing to do with the actual product and not giving actual reasons the product is a scam. I’m not talking about the intro but rather the part after the intro and the presentation of the product

[IkeaGnome]

2 minutes ago, Julleeee said:

Definitely, it’ll take me some time to trust their reviews as well. But I still think they are having an amazing start, with openly showing their equipment and what it is capable of, and showing exactly what kind of test they are doing as well as sharing the programs they are using.

I think the more hands off Linus is with labs, the better it will be, and the more professional it will be. 

2 minutes ago, Julleeee said:

If it weren’t for the rants here they would be far ahead of many other reviewers.

Personally, I think there's more reasons for them not being ahead of many other reviewers. 

Once again, I don't fault Linus for a lot of this stuff. He's done amazing things coming from LTX and other beginnings. He's made a great company from almost nothing. 

That being said, not having any communication oversight for himself is a big problem. More so the last year and a half the channel has turned into "look what we can afford." Mixed in with "Look what sponsors are paying to go into my house" with very little actual content around the products. Most of the products that went into his house I'm sure are great products and something I'd want in my house, but I don't know any more about them after watching the video than I did before. Their actual hardware reviews are very lackluster. The information they put in them amount to the intro to most other reviewers' videos. Then when he does come on the forums and interacts with people here. Lately it's been a lot of "we'll fix that" in regards to CS times for their shop, but it hasn't been fixed in the better part of two years. When it's not that there's a few members that he seems to enjoy fighting with. Yes sometimes they start it, but he escalates it. 

[Thomas4]

The one thing I would like to see in a review is when the review was actually filmed, as this has an effect on what they are allowed to tell you, also the manufacturer has time from when the item was shipped to the reviewer and the time needed for the  review itself unto when the product was actually made available to the general public.

 

Unfortunately, too many reviewers either during the editing period or the time from the final edit to posting, don't put in  message saying what the manufacturer has done to correct any flaws - assuming the manufacturer had the time, of course and informed the reviewer as such.

 

The best reviews will be from about three months after initial release. Why? The reviewer can purchase the product, have time to interact with it for some time, the manufacturer can make any possible changes to the product they can, in most cases via either BIOS or driver updates.

 

Unfortunately, no one will bother to watch them, because they were out the first week buying the whatever because of a review of pre-release item. This is NOT, repeat NOT saying that there will necessarily any difference to what they've been given to what the end user purchased.

[manikyath]

11 hours ago, Julleeee said:

it is more interesting wether it actually makes a difference or not,

for a device like this, you literally only need a 1 minute video to prove that it cannot.

 

Quote

Welcome to this video

ethernet is a digital signal, the protocols that go over it have error correction, and good product design will filter out interference of an ethernet cable LONG before it reaches the DAC of a device.

Like favourite subscribe.

but that doesnt cover *WHY* this product exists.. which is what they are covering. it's in so many words not so much a review of the product, because there, in reality, is nothing to review.

 

it's like trying to make a roundup of 8-port gigabit switches based on their performance: you cant, because under the hood they are practically identical.

[Stahlmann]

If you want unbiased video reviews, go look at Hardware Unboxed or Gamers Nexus. LTT has been a marketing pipeline for years now. They're no review channel.

 

Don't get me wrong, there are technical people at LTT and they'd probably love to do content like that, but that's simply now how LTT's business model is built. I personally like most of LTT's videos. But not because they're a good source of information or unbiased reviews. It's because they're entertaining.

[Just that Mario]

18 hours ago, Arika S said:

Lmg don't market themselves on having unbiased reviews,  at least not in their current youtube channels, maybe once labs kicks off, but that will be confined to labs content.

 

If you're after unbiased reviews, you're on the wrong channel. 

Sadly Linus only mentions unbiased reviews as valid in WAN shows, lol. One would expect the very channel to produce such reviews as well.

[divito]

24 minutes ago, Stahlmann said:

If you want unbiased video reviews, go look at Hardware Unboxed or Gamers Nexus. LTT has been a marketing pipeline for years now. They're no review channel.

The amount of things LTT craps on in reviews, and you claim they're a "marketing pipeline." What...

[Holmes108]

22 hours ago, divito said:

The amount of things LTT craps on in reviews, and you claim they're a "marketing pipeline." What...

Yeah, you can think the reviews aren't thorough enough, or levy any number of criticisms at the video format/content, but the idea that they are just biased shills (essentially, I know that word wasn't used here), well I just don't see it.