The importance of 5 star ratings.

[jaxwired]

I read quite a few posts that seem to indicate that people put great stock in 5 star ratings of products. I just want to throw this out for debate. While I think the ratings are useful, people should keep an open mind since these ratings are very subjective.

One mag's 5 star product of the year can easily rank 4th out 5 competitors in another mag's group test. It's not uncommon.

Also, because system matching or "synergy" is so incredibly important, a 3 star product can easily be 5 stars with a different amp or source or different cables.

I will say that 2 star or 1 star ratings are far more telling than 5 star ratings. Reviewers typically don't want to call a product terrible. If they do so, it probably is.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree that star ratings need to be taken in context, i.e., as subjective ratings with limited face validity.
Also, I find these ratings difficult to interpret because it's hard to tell how a five star rating for a £500 bit of kit compares to a five star rating of a £1500 one? For all I know, they could be as good as each other. Or perhaps the reviewers consider them as top rank but in a different class of equipment. who knows

 

[Anonymous]

They're just a guide. There's a bewildering range of kit out there, and review scores are a useful way of narrowing down the field before it comes to audition time. And while there are clearly differences in review scores between publications, there is usually broad concensus over what is decent kit. It's entirely possible that I will prefer a 4, or even 3 star piece of equipement over a 5 star. Anything less than 3 stars, however, won't be on my audition list. Life's too short.

TBH, I think it's increasingly difficult to find equipment which is actually "bad". These days, most equipment above the bargain basement price bracket seems to be pretty respectable.

What interests me is this: is a 5 star piece of equipment in this month's magazine significantly better than an equivalent 5 star piece of equipment 3 or 4 years ago????

 

[chebby]

What is more pertinent is that many dealers will not stock equipment unless they can mount little cards on them declaring that 'product x' is a WHF 5 star award winner or 'Hifi Choice' or whatever.

This is much more true with budget - mid-priced gear. Margins are lower so shelf space only tends to go to 5 star/Choice items.

The NAD 326BEE was unfindable until a few weeks after WHF gave it 5 stars. (I know, I tried.)

Obviously this is no fault of the magazines and TBH no fault of a dealer who wants budget stuff to consist of items that will shift the fastest.

This phenomena applies less to the more expensive/higher end kit. (Although you sometimes have to look hard to find Cyrus equipment hidden behind all the 5 Star 'bunting' whereas something like Naim gear somehow manages to shift itself without such assistance.

I take it all with a pinch of salt. I have equipment that is WHF 5 star and WHF no star (Rega R3's and my turntable and my DAC for instance).

 

[Thaiman]

If you made up the short list of 4 - 5 stars rating products and go to demo, I can't see you can go far wrong.

There are times when I thought 4 stars products were better than some 5 stars rating gears but then it will all come down to system matching and personal taste any way.....guideline for consumers/advertise opportunity for manufacture marketing which ever way you look at it, we just could resist buy Hifi magazines.

 

[matthewpiano]

To be honest I take less and less notice of star ratings. The only way to find out how good something is, is to try it with your own ears.

 

[Anonymous]

I think the rating system gets more useful the further you are away from a hifi oasis. Living where I do, where there are only 2 'hifi' shops, both part of large chains and one of which I refuse to go into, some sort of reference to help you reach a shortlist is invaluable.

How great it would be to be able to visit shop after shop, listening to anything and everything that takes your fancy. Alas for some of us, that just isnt going to happen.Dont even ask about home demos..

The obvious caveats apply though. I dont take the stars or awards as gospel, but use them as a guide and as such I find them useful.......

 

[link]

my question is what if you can buy a 3 stars £1000 amp for £500, will it be a 3 stars product (the nad 375bee in particular)?

if you know what i mean 🙂

 

[Anonymous]

Depends who awards the stars. Some publications set star awards depending on price range or take price into consideration so your example probably would be awarded more than 3 stars. Others do not take price into consideration so will stay as it was..........Its only a guide after all

 

[matengawhat]

my biggest concern is the amount of products that get 5 stars as doesn't really singal out a product that is exceptional any more but just a good product

 

[jaxwired]

link:

my question is what if you can buy a 3 stars £1000 amp for £500, will it be a 3 stars product (the nad 375bee in particular)?

if you know what i mean 🙂

Good example. That NAD 375 is very good to my ears. Even at £1000 it's at least a 4 star performer in my book...

 

[jaxwired]

debt_collector:Also, I find these ratings difficult to interpret because it's hard to tell how a five star rating for a £500 bit of kit compares to a five star rating of a £1500 one?

That's a good point. Other review source have solved that problem with two types of ratings. The first rating indicates how it rates in it's price category. The second rating indicates how it rates in that product category without regards to price.

Although, the second rating type is almost universally bestowed on high priced gear.

 

[smuggs]

i would love a 5star item but everything good i listen to is a 4 star,

denon1909 far better than the two 820,2400es sony amps and the onkyo606

M/A br5's how they think the kef iq5se's are a 5 star is beyond me they.

so i would go and listen and not worry about it. If there was a clear line between 5 and 4 they would only sell certain products.The same as clothes one persons best shirt might not make your wardrobe

 

[Anonymous]

Agree that these should be used with caution but extremely useful when drawing up a shortlist.

Interestingly, I contacted a large hi fi chain yesterday (advertised and recommended in What Hi Fi) who poured scorn on 5 star ratings given by What Hi Fi on basis that the make in question is owned by seller who advertises extensively in What Hi Fi. That was news to me, so as you say, if you can buy with your ears.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Gazza366522:Interestingly, I contacted a large hi fi chain yesterday (advertised and recommended in What Hi Fi) who poured scorn on 5 star ratings given by What Hi Fi on basis that the make in question is owned by seller who advertises extensively in What Hi Fi.

It's amazing what nonsense some people will spout to get a sale - such bad sales technique, slagging off the opposition.

Let me guess: Richer Sounds, Cambridge Audio.

Sigh.

Richer Sounds and Cambridge Audio are independent companies, though admittedly Julian Richer holds a substantial stake in Audip Partnership, which is the parent company of Cambridge Audio.

Richer is also the sole distributor of Cambridge Audio in the UK, which means CA products are only sold through Richer shops. And at much lower prices than they are elsewhere in the world, since there is no distributor marging between manufacturer and retailer.

However...

Maybe the person who told you that was annoyed because his shop doesn't have access to those products.

And I am at a loss to understand what the fact that anyone advertises extensively in the magazine has to do with the price of fish: after all, our editorial and advertising departments operate entirely apart, as is the case across our company.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Indeed. Editorially, no brand is sacrosanct - the only thing that counts is performance per pound. Cambridge Audio has had a mix of good and bad reviews, for example (see here).

There's a one-star review coming up for a different, big brand name in our forthcoming October issue. Bet retailers with their deluded conspiracy theories will conveniently ignore that, too.

Conversely, many brands that never advertise - Rega springs instantly to mind- have won plenty of five-star reviews and Awards.

Just recently we gave a Group Test win to EB Acoustics who don't advertise nor are sold through ANY retailer; there's another five-star rating for a direct-sold bargain product from another brand in our next issue. Sure such ratings will make some retailers unhappy, but we don't write on behalf of them - we write on behalf of you, the consumer.

 

[Alec]

The same nonsense, the same rebuttals.

Boring.

C'mon now people. Imagine - just flippin' imagine -the readers deserting the mag in their droves if these rebuttals ever turned out to contain anything that was proven false!

Just think about it, then knock it on the head, eh?

 

[Andrew Everard]

Huh???

 

[method man]

Andrew Everard:Huh???

couldnt make it out either

 

[chebby]

Andrew Everard:Huh???

Well I assume Al is just saying that there is far too much at stake (the WHF readership and webbyship and it's reputation) for any rebuttals to be anything but 100 percent accurate, and in light of that, it is pointless continuing to make the same claims over & over.

Another UK Hifi mag (I will not name it) has had quite a firestorm lately over a member of it's staff favourably reviewing products from a company that the said member then went on to become a VP of marketing for!

I don't remember such a fuss over Stan Curtis (back in the good 'ol days) reviewing products he had designed for companies he had a financial stake in. We were simpler and more trusting back then and without the internet few people outside the industry knew any better or cared less anyway.

In fact a reviewer would proudly boast quite openly that 'product x' had been designed by one of their own contributors. Peter Comeau comes to mind.

Hifi World design and make a whole tranche of speakers, kits and amps for sale to it's readers and review them too. (World Designs.)

(Doesn't WHF have a talented speaker designer tucked away in their review team somewhere? I am sure I have seen it mentioned. I would love to see an article about it.)

 

[Andrew Everard]

Another reason why we use in-house staff reviewers, although we do seem to have quite a history of former employees going into hi-fi PR and, in the case of one of our former ad managers, now running the UK operation of a major manufacturer.

BTW just caught your edit - HFW will of course tell you that World Audio Designs and the magazine are two very distinct operations, and Peter Comeau is no longer reviewing now he is head audio honcho thingy at IAG.

 

[chebby]

Yes indeed. Mostly I was talking about the 1980s (Peter Comeau and Heybrook and Stan Curtis and the first incantation of Cambridge Audio before the present ownership and others.)

 

[Alec]

chebby:

Andrew Everard:Huh???

Well I assume Al is just saying that there is far too much at stake (the WHF readership and webbyship and it's reputation) for any rebuttals to be anything but 100 percent accurate, and in light of that, it is pointless continuing to make the same claims over & over.

Give that man a [*] !

EDIT - not that ^ doesnt make sense, because i clicked on the gold star, and it didnt appear in my post. maybe it does now, maybe it doesnt.

 

[Alec]

Computer says no then.

 

[Clare Newsome]

For as long as false, misleading accusations are made, we will (patiently) explain the true situation; that may get tedious to some long-time members of these Forums, but with thousands of new users finding us every month, there will - sadly - probably long be the need to clarify our position on a whole range of issues.

Gazza, for example, who brought up the comments earlier in this thread that we're responding to, only joined the Forums yesterday - are we supposed to let him continue believing the rubbish fed to him by a retailer?