Week 1 of government-mandated quarantine.

As some of you may know, due to the Covid-19 situation happening… well, basically everywhere, I decided to return back home to Singapore for that extra peace of mind. And of course, being fresh off the plane meant that I was required to self-isolate for a fortnight, so I had a lot of time to my own thoughts, to self-reflect and meditate on my journey, my aspirations and my shortcomings.

And in the time I spent in self-reflection, I had an epiphany. I had hurt so many people, committed so many cardinal sins, some would say that I have destroyed lives. And it happens… every time I say something bad about a product.

I had realised a grand truth: I wasn’t writing reviews for the audiophiles looking to buy something, or the ones who are on the fence on whether or not to purchase that new toy. No, I realised that I was writing reviews for exisiting owners of the product I was reviewing, and so my words dealt a much more personal blow to my readers.

After all, everyone knows that “you are what you eat”. And so by extension, “you are what you buy”. So it only made sense that whenever I criticised a product, I was in turn criticising the buyers as a person, insulting their very being.

Oh how blind could I have been, not realising the bitter truth I had subconsiously avoided for years. I never realised how much negativity and toxicity I was contributing to the hobby by highlighting the flaws of the IEMs I reviewed. The people I’ve hurt by calling a product “generic”, and in turn, calling them the same.

I cannot undo the damage that I’ve caused, and that shall be the biggest regret that will follow me to my deathbed. But I hope that you all can accept my apology, which is a list about as long as my ranking list.

Ahem.