Transparency

Sources & Methodology

Amplyst builds sound profiles by aggregating sentiment from publicly available hi-fi reviews. This page explains where the data comes from, how it's used, and how reviewers and publishers can request changes.

What Amplyst does with reviews

For each component in the database, Amplyst aggregates short, attributed quotes from published reviews across multiple sources. Sentiment is classified per quote across six sonic dimensions (tonal balance, presence, detail, timing, bass quality, treble quality). Scores are deterministic weighted averages — every score traces back to specific reviewer quotes that are displayed alongside the result.

Amplyst does not republish full reviews, does not generate synthetic "AI-written" reviews in the style of any reviewer, and does not present sentiment as the original opinion of any single source.

Principles

Attribution first

Every quote shown in Amplyst is paired with the reviewer or publication name and a direct link to the original review URL. Readers who want the full context are always one click away from the source.

Short quotes, not republication

Quotes are limited to short excerpts — generally well under 25 words — sufficient to illustrate the sentiment being aggregated, not to substitute for reading the original.

Transformative use

Amplyst's value lies in the cross-source aggregation and structured classification, not in the underlying review text. The sentiment view produced for a component is not present in any single source — it exists only as the aggregate.

Driving traffic to the source

Every component page is designed to encourage readers to click through to the original reviews. The goal is to make Amplyst a discovery layer for reviewer work, not a replacement for reading it.

Respect for robots.txt and publisher signals

Sources that disallow automated access are not scraped. Where a publisher signals preferences about how their content may be used, those preferences are followed.

Sources currently used

Amplyst aggregates reviews from publicly available sources including:

6moons
Analog Planet
Audio Bacon
Audio Science Review
AVForums
Darko.Audio
Headfonics
HiFi+
HiFi News
HiFi.nl
Positive Feedback
Soundnews
SoundStage!
Stereophile
The Absolute Sound
What Hi-Fi?

This list is not exhaustive and may change. The full source for any specific quote is always displayed at the point of citation.

For reviewers and publishers

If you write hi-fi reviews and your work is referenced in Amplyst, a few things to know:

You can see exactly what is used. Search any component your reviews cover on app.amplyst.io to see which of your quotes appear and how they're attributed.
You can request removal. If you'd prefer your work not be used as a source — for any reason, no justification needed — email amplystapp@gmail.com with the publication name and any specific URLs. Quotes from the requested source will be removed from the database, and the source will be excluded from future scraping. This typically happens within one week of request.
You can request changes to attribution. If the way your name or publication is displayed isn't accurate or how you'd prefer it, the same email address gets to a real person who will fix it.
You can ask how a specific score was derived. Every score is traceable to the quotes that produced it. If something looks off, email amplystapp@gmail.com and you'll get a detailed breakdown of the inputs.

For readers

A few things to be honest about:

Sound profiles reflect aggregated reviewer sentiment, which is a useful but partial signal. It does not replace your own listening, room acoustics, personal taste, or the variability of individual hearing.
Coverage depth varies by component. A widely reviewed flagship will have a richer sound profile than an obscure or recent release. Where coverage is thin, profiles are presented with explicit confidence indicators.
Sentiment classification is automated and not perfect. Every quote shown lets you judge the classification yourself — if the underlying quote doesn't match the label assigned to it, that's a bug, and emailing amplystapp@gmail.com will get it looked at.

Legal context

Amplyst operates on the principle that short, attributed quotation for the purpose of aggregation and discussion is consistent with the citation right under Dutch and European copyright law (Auteurswet article 15a and equivalents). The platform is designed to support rather than replace reviewer work, with direct linkbacks driving traffic to original sources.

Amplyst is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or partnered with any of the publications listed above unless explicitly stated. Any mention of a publication name reflects the use of their publicly available content as a source, not a commercial relationship.

If a publisher or reviewer believes the current implementation is inconsistent with their preferences, amplystapp@gmail.com reaches the person responsible directly — usually with a response within a few days.

Last updated · 25 May 2026 amplystapp@gmail.com