Stereophile's Products of 2016

  • Thread starter Thread starter mauidan
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Mike said:
I agree. I do like HiFi News myself. They aren't 2 years behind on reviewing products either. They're constantly on the leading end of new products. Their scoring system is a little suspect at times, but overall, they have good reviews, lab tests and a scoring system.
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Isnt Martin Colloms at Hifi Critic (subscription only, no adverts)? They are the bastion IMHO.
 
CPP said:
Unfortunately magazines require money to operate and a audio mag will require audio manufacturers and audio show promoters to pay for advertising to support printing/online management. I just don't see that happening unless the mag is self supporting financially. If a mag is self supporting then the truth would be available regarding product performance and measurements of course that would depend on the credibility of the reviewer and the accuracy and knowledge base of the person doing the measurements. It would be nice.

But what chaps me, is the current advertising vs actual written audio related text. Lets take this months Stereophile. Around a 163 pages total. On a quick run through, there are 105 full page adds, 14 1/2 page adds and 6 1/4 page adds vs 58 pages of written text and not all of those 58 pages are audio equipment review related. You have the tables of contents, legal stuff, reader comments, music reviews, but it seems each month the audio reviews give up space for paid color advertisements, sure that's income for the magazine, it cost to print but come on. From what I see, be it car mags, boating mags etc.. its that way in almost ever mag you pick up, marketing driven advertisements, lots of them and they keep growing as the main purpose of the mag dwindles. .
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Like this?: http://www.hificritic.com/
 
kzhtoo said:
Respectfully disagree. I'm wondering if they were in a proper setup when you heard them.
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You can disagree and wonder if they were in a "proper setup," I can only tell you what I heard.
 
mauidan said:
You can disagree and wonder if they were in a "proper setup," I can only tell you what I heard.
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Ok. I hope you'll hear S3's in a setup that you like in the future. I can only say it's not because of the speakers.
 
Mike said:
I agree. I do like HiFi News myself. They aren't 2 years behind on reviewing products either. They're constantly on the leading end of new products. Their scoring system is a little suspect at times, but overall, they have good reviews, lab tests and a scoring system.
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Hi Mike,

I totally agree with you. I'm a big fan of HiFi News too. Love their descriptions, sonic reviews, interior photos, measurements and scoring, although their scoring doesn't always quite match up with itself. Loved their reviews of the Chord Dave, ARC Ref 6 and ARC Ref 10.

I do like John Atkinson's measurements and reviews in Stereophile. I consider him to have integrity and value his opinion too. After I audtioned the Vandersteen M7-HPA Mono Amps and really loved their sound with the Model 7 MkII Speakers, I asked his opinion of the amps and he told me I should go for them if I could afford them, based on his lengthy listening experience with them. This did play a factor in my purchase decision, as did my numerous conversations with Richard Vandersteen.

It does bugs me though when some of Stereophile's reviewers say that two different components from different manufacturers sound the same, when clearly they do not (i.e. ARC Ref CD-9 and Krell Cipher). Both components sound great but clearly different in my opinion.

Best,
Ken
 
kzhtoo said:
Ok. I hope you'll hear S3's in a setup that you like in the future. I can only say it's not because of the speakers.
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Since you don't know anything about the system I heard the S3s in, you can't say it wasn't the speakers.

Based on what I heard, I have no desire to listen to them again.
 
mauidan said:
Since you don't know anything about the system I heard the S3s in, you can't say it wasn't the speakers.

Based on what I heard, I have no desire to listen to them again.
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Since I have S3's in a system I listen to everyday, yes, I can.
 
Kuoppis said:
You see, that kind of proves the point.

Our desires vary, as IMHO an iPhone 7 with Grados has rather little to do with proper sound. My mobile setup is a Questyle QP1R with Oppo closed back planar magnetic headphones and I mostly listen to DSD files.
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I love Grados on my iPhone 6S - after 10 years, I upgraded from 60s to 225s though. I must love crappy sound. :woot:
 
KeithR said:
I love Grados on my iPhone 6S - after 10 years, I upgraded from 60s to 225s though. I must love crappy sound. :woot:
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Guess you do, your choice [emoji39].

Well Keith, I did also use my iPhone 6S for mobile music listening, until I concluded the quality is poor and replaced it with a dedicated hi-end player.

But it is the same as if you would say, that just because you are an experienced audiophile a 2K integrated you would happen to use is a high-end amp.

So, who would blame you, if you don't know better?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
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