I think the German Stereo & Stereoplay are quite good. Unfortunately I do find German much harder to read than English.
I still subscribe to HiFi News, but am not enjoying it as much as I used to
Not helped by a competitor having an exclusive on the Solstice TT. HiFi news have still yet to mention the Solstice, which seems very petty.
I used to regularly get The Absolute Sound and Stereophile when these were still small pocketbooks. When these two became standard magazines with glossy paper and a lot of advertisements, I stopped buying them.
Stereophile
TAS
Critic/HFN
Stereophile - Especially because of the bench testing.
HiFi+
Tone
All very good.
What are good magazines for record/CD reviews? I’m not very interested in gear reviews ( Linn/Naim excepted, and then only partially).
I occasionally buy Record Collector, and very, very occasionally the ‘rock’ monthlies. Seems mostly I surf online for reviews, so just wondered…
Just yesterday I got my very first issue of Hi-Fi Critic. It’s very well put together and fun to hold in one’s hand vs all that I read online. A chat with Jon Honeyball inspired me.
I have come to rely on the participants on the Steve Hoffman forums for record/cd/digital file reviews. As with all online fora there are unusual characters there, but the consensus reached there is usually pretty accurate in my experience.
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I don’t have any present subscriptions, just dip in to the usual ones.
Funnily I actually caught myself using my two fingers to expand an image on a hard copy page once.
Agassi?
Is there any publication that isn’t afraid to slam products when they aren’t good?
I’m getting tired of Stereophile always giving rave reviews and highly recommended conclusions even when there are testing problems. I do like that they actually do tests and it’s not just subjective mumbo jumbo.
I think most just don’t waste their time or print. Luckily I’m told it’s quite rare to get a product that’s really poor these days. It does happen sometimes though.
Back in the day of course you had UK magazines like The Flat Response (which then became Hifi Review) which could be quite brutal and slaughtered a few sacred cows such as the Audio research SP8. Hifi Choice and What Hifi didn’t pull their punches either when they got in something that was found really wanting.
Yes.
Thinking about it, when those tennis pros sit down between sets and matches. I think they resemble the Toby jug with their bottle and blanket/towel.
Also that amazing mullet!
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I forget who it was that commented here on this subject, possibly a HiFi press bod, that a magazine that devoted a significant amount of space to reviews that gave a poor verdict would soon go out of business. People want to hear about the good stuff that they might want to buy, not the dross. There’s little to be gained by gloating over something that sounds bad.
I think it depends.
YouTube has shown the way for some of this - clear reviews that say how things really are drive authenticity and subscribers, and this creates value. The other model is that advertisers provide income and so you don’t slate their products, but this relies on your audience trusting you enough or liking your other material enough to keep buying the magazine…
So I think actually it’s nowadays the genuine article that gets a loyal following that gets the stuff to review, etc… Of course, this is often the case initially and then ‘sells out’… chest la vie.
I’ve never seen Stereophile review the ND555, the Stageline, or the NAP300. They never win product of the year or are listed in their buyers guide. So do I conclude that they terrible products?
Well, another factor to bear in mind is that magazines tend to not want to step on other magazine’s toes, so if something has already been well reviewed in one or more other mags, there’s less interest in another review of the same product - better to dedicate precious space to something different. Also much will depend upon who is writing on the magazine and how well a particular brand will work within their particular review system. Naim sources are will work great in most systems, but you can’t just plonk a Naim pre-amp or power amp into any old system and expect to get the best from it.
Do you conclude that if something isn’t reviewed in Stereophile then it’s a terrible product? No, of course not. These products have been reviewed by a number other revered publications, even some Stateside (see Tone Audio), and I think you’ll quickly release they are anything but terrible.
As for Stereophile itself, Art Dudley was their “go to” guy for reviewing Naim as he had a good understanding of what the brand is all about. He’d actually started reviewing the new streamers (see ND5XS2 review in Stereophile) but sadly Art passed away last year.
See here for the thread about Art on the forum;
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What HIFI is not trustworthy. Someone summarised all reviews 2 years back and more than 75% or so was 4 stars or higher. It’s not reality of course. It’s business.
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Cd555 and 552 were reviewed by Michael Fremer on Stereophile. Also Cd5xs, Nait 5i, Nova, Nd5xs2, Atom HE, and even NAC 62, Nap 140, all by Stereophile.
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I do take most hifi reviews with a pinch of salt for one simple reason. I have never seen a product get less than 3/5