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John Darko?

stairpost

stairpost

Average at best.
Hi all,

Anyone here seen much of John Darko's review material? I've watched a few of his YouTube vids and can't make out if he is incredibly genuine or just very good at selling us what he is reviewing. He never seems to dislike anything, which always comes across as suspicious.

I must add he does seem to be a likeable sort of chap.

Cheers

Rich.
 
There is another thread somewhere, or at least he’s certainly been the topic of discussion recently. I’ve no idea quite what makes him a reviewer beyond saying he is one, though he seems nice enough and has a remarkably tidy house. YouTube is strange like that. There are several audio channels of people who don’t seem to have a huge amount of experience reviewing stuff, I guess semi-professionally. I suppose it is good for the industry in some ways if it gets new people interested. A further democratisation of media/celebrity where in true Andy Warhol style everyone is a reviewer for 15 minutes. I guess I chose to be a content publisher so I’m kind of the same thing, though I very consciously avoid ‘reviewing’ anything, let alone current product.

FWIW my own favourite audio channels by far are the vintage restoration ones; Electronics Old & New, XRayTonyB, Mr Carlson’s Lab etc etc. I watch hours of that content (vintage computer geek stuff too) and actually learn much from it. I like the Stereophile crowd of reviewers too, they just seem a thoroughly nice bunch of people who I’m sure I’d get on with.
 
Tony L said:
There is another thread somewhere, or at least he’s certainly been the topic of discussion recently. I’ve no idea quite what makes him a reviewer beyond saying he is one, though he seems nice enough and has a remarkably tidy house. YouTube is strange like that. There are several audio channels of people who don’t seem to have a huge amount of experience reviewing stuff, I guess semi-professionally. I suppose it is good for the industry in some ways if it gets new people interested. A further democratisation of media/celebrity where in true Andy Warhol style everyone is a reviewer for 15 minutes. I guess I chose to be a content publisher so I’m kind of the same thing, though I very consciously avoid ‘reviewing’ anything, let alone current product.

FWIW my own favourite audio channels by far are the vintage restoration ones; Electronics Old & New, XRayTonyB, Mr Carlson’s Lab etc etc. I watch hours of that content (vintage computer geek stuff too) and actually learn much from it. I like the Stereophile crowd of reviewers too, they just seem a thoroughly nice bunch of people who I’m sure I’d get on with.
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Interesting observation, I think you are spot on with youtube being an open door for anyone to become whatever they say they are. Gone (sadly) are the days when people had to work their way towards becoming a proven source of information via a well established and accepted outlet.

I've watched a few Mr Carlson's lab videos recently, I seemed to catch a run of him restoring some very cool looking tuners, it seemed pretty clear he knew what he was doing, and presented it well, which can actually make for interesting viewing of some unexpected topics.
 
stairpost said:
I've watched a few Mr Carlson's lab videos recently, I seemed to catch a run of him restoring some very cool looking tuners, it seemed pretty clear he knew what he was doing, and presented it well, which can actually make for interesting viewing of some unexpected topics.
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I subscribe to his YouTube channel. I’ve mentioned it before, but at first I assumed the background was green screened, but then realised it wasn’t. I can’t help wondering if that’s what Jez’s living room looks like.
 
stairpost said:
Interesting observation, I think you are spot on with youtube being an open door for anyone to become whatever they say they are. Gone (sadly) are the days when people had to work their way towards becoming a proven source of information via a well established and accepted outlet.

I've watched a few Mr Carlson's lab videos recently, I seemed to catch a run of him restoring some very cool looking tuners, it seemed pretty clear he knew what he was doing, and presented it well, which can actually make for interesting viewing of some unexpected topics.
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Some of the most talented, skilled people are on Youtube, do you use it much? I can only imagine if someone is not very good at what they do then democracy will work that one out. Darko seems to be good at what he does, not sure what qualifies anyone as a reviewer of anything to be fair.
 
stairpost said:
He never seems to dislike anything, which always comes across as suspicious.
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A few years ago he tried Noble Audio IEMs over the course of several weeks, I can't recall the precise model but they were certainly up the chain -- maybe TOTL universals. As a Noble Audio user, I was looking forward to his thoughts -- but they never surfaced. Within a matter of weeks he pivoted over to Campfire praising them highly and subsequently became a user of them. I found this a bit strange left wondering whether there's a hidden agenda going on.
 
His videos look as if they’re expensively made. I’ve no idea if that’s they case, but I do wonder where the money comes from if they are indeed expensive to make. As ever with YouTube there’s no compulsion to watch them if you don’t like them.

Meanwhile Techmoan reviewed a record made out of chocolate a couple of weeks ago. Rather surprisingly it worked (sort of).
 
garyi said:
Some of the most talented, skilled people are on Youtube, do you use it much? I can only imagine if someone is not very good at what they do then democracy will work that one out. Darko seems to be good at what he does, not sure what qualifies anyone as a reviewer of anything to be fair.
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I think that if one looks at a channel such as Audiophile Man (AKA Paul Rigby) then one listens to a very seasoned and experienced audio reviewer. Paul obviously has decades of writing experience behind him for consumer magazines on various subjects and can place a given audio component within a historical perspective and against other benchmarks for the same category of product. I would tend to trust someone like Paul’s YouTube reviews because he has the established track record to back it all up.
 
garyi said:
Some of the most talented, skilled people are on Youtube, do you use it much? I can only imagine if someone is not very good at what they do then democracy will work that one out. Darko seems to be good at what he does, not sure what qualifies anyone as a reviewer of anything to be fair.
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I probably spend too much time on youtube to be honest, not having a TV it seems to be my go to escape for absolute crap viewing, and I mean crap, stuff I'd be ashamed to admit to watching on this fine platform.

I think of a reviewer as someone who has spent time in the industry, either design, manufacture or retail, someone who has been immersed in the subject long enough to gain a good understanding of the subject. But as you point out, who is to say, I could be way off the mark with what makes a reviewer.
 
Stunsworth said:
His videos look as if they’re expensively made. I’ve no idea if that’s they case, but I do wonder where the money comes from if they are indeed expensive to make. As ever with YouTube there’s no compulsion to watch them if you don’t like them.

Meanwhile Techmoan reviewed a record made out of chocolate a couple of weeks ago. Rather surprisingly it worked (sort of).
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I like Techmoan, he seems to have a passion and knowledge of all sorts of forgotten and unknown delights.
 
Pedro83 said:
A few years ago he tried Noble Audio IEMs over the course of several weeks, I can't recall the precise model but they were certainly up the chain -- maybe TOTL universals. As a Noble Audio user, I was looking forward to his thoughts -- but they never surfaced. Within a matter of weeks he pivoted over to Campfire praising them highly and subsequently became a user of them. I found this a bit strange left wondering whether there's a hidden agenda going on.
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I think that a YouTube reviewer such as John Darko has a slickly produced and established channel that affords him the profile to approach audio manufacturers (or maybe distributors and dealers) for review samples. I suspect that because John Darko isn’t an established audio writer (in the way that Paul Rigby is), he knows that he can’t really be seen to be overly harsh or critical in his reviews so perhaps what we are left with is more of an advertorial served up as a personal ‘home video’ view? I’m not trying to put down John’s work as I have certainly watched and enjoyed some of his YouTube videos plus the guy is obviously both knowledgeable and talented.
 
Mole Man said:
I think that a YouTube reviewer such as John Darko have a slickly produced and established channel that affords them the profile to approach audio manufacturers (or maybe distributors and dealers) for review samples. I suspect that because John Darko isn’t an established audio writer (in the way that Paul Rigby is), he knows that he can’t really be seen to be overly harsh or critical in his reviews so perhaps what we are left with is more of an advertorial served up as a personal ‘home video’ view? I’m not trying to put down John’s work as I have certainly watched and enjoyed some of his YouTube videos plus the guy is obviously both knowledgeable and talented.
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I’ve seen a few of his videos where he mentions he’s bought the kit himself. I assume when he doesn’t say that it’s a manufacturer loaner. Whether that affects his review I’ve no idea.
 
Darko has had his own website for quiet a number of years and a bit like a pop band has gone more mainstream as he has got more popular. He use to concentrate on computer audio and that was the niche he started from. I think he is very readable and he likes David Byrne so he can't be that bad a guy :D
 
I can find out the number of spdif inputs on the back of a dac by checking the owners manual.

His bland ramblings with no committed opinion make for an inoffensive but unsubstantial offering.

Not to mention he doesn’t own a decent record player.
 
Stunsworth said:
I’ve seen a few of his videos where he mentions he’s bought the kit himself. I assume when he doesn’t say that it’s a manufacturer loaner. Whether that affects his review I’ve no idea.
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Yes, maybe I’m wrong here. I certainly don’t see any kind of agenda bar promoting himself as a likeable and very watchable audiophile expert. When you see that he has a camera man credited, plus when one considers the high end editing and production and sound, etc then this would point to a commercial endeavour. I don’t pretend to know how YouTube works as a platform for a content provider such as John Darko but unless the guy is pretty wealthy (i.e. of independent means) then it’s a huge commitment when one considers that he says he’s being reviewing for ten years.
 
stairpost said:
Gone (sadly) are the days when people had to work their way towards becoming a proven source of information via a well established and accepted outlet.
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I’m not saying it is a bad thing at all. I still buy Stereophile, but I’m far more interested in the columns and personal journeys of the various writers as they learn and experiment than any formal review, in fact I don’t bother reading much beyond the news, columns and music reviews (in case I’ve missed anything rather than to get an opinion on it). I have far more a mindset of sharing knowledge and communal growth than ever wanting to proclaim myself an “expert” on anything, and as such I’m a tad sceptical of those who do unless they actually are (e.g. proper scientists). I hope this comes over in the way I write and run this place.

I don’t know enough about these various audio channels to know the commercial model behind them, but certainly in the guitar/musical instruments world there are a lot of ‘paid’ reviews, a lot of kit sent out free to YouTubers etc. Whenever a big name guitar FX pedal or whatever is released just about every relevant channel will have an unboxing video and sound review. Whether they get paid more than a free pedal and the click revenue I have no idea, but one seldom sees anything negative. It is amusing as you tend to feel sorry for the channels who obviously didn’t get sent a free pedal! This model obviously existed in traditional audio too with many magazine reviewers clearly running free or very heavily discounted review samples, often worth absurd amounts of money. This is one reason I had such huge respect for folk like Art Dudley, Sam Tellig etc at Stereophile who ran classic vintage kit they had owned for decades or clearly bought themselves as it is no longer made, e.g. Art’s 301, 124, Altec Valencias etc etc. You can’t possibly accuse someone with such a system of review bias, shilling etc.

PS I hope I’m not sounding negative, I really don’t intend to and I wish the YouTube audio crowd every success and I’d certainly make them welcome here. Democratisation is always a great thing to see and the more voices in anything the better IMO, especially if they are genuinely independent, and if not I’m not even sure that matters that much either as crowds always dilute perceived authority. I’d certainly not swap where we are right now with the ‘closed shop’ of the ‘80s UK press which was anything but impartial in a lot of ways. With 2020 hindsight (I’ll get that in before the end of year) a fair bit of damage was done back then.
 
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