What Hifi? Awards 2020 - Well done Naim!

Not this again. As someone who has worked in magazines on and off for more than 30 years and who knows both Haymarket (WHF?'s previous owner) and Future (current publisher) well, this [swapping ad space for good reviews] does not happen. You have no proof for this assertion, neither do the geeks on that other forum, so why perpetuate the myth?

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I’ve always liked WHF, even had a subscription for many years, but the complete lack of measurements is one thing I’ve always disliked. It shouldn’t be the main thing, but there should be a nice balance IMO.

I do wonder though about the likes of Harbeth and the fact they rarely feature in WHF although a major British brand, what are they not doing for this to happen? Then there are other brands that are regularly featured, mostly with glowing reviews. The cynical side of me would say there is some level of commercial tie in, positive reviews can have an enormous effect on sales as do bad ones, just my observation.

Same here. I wouldn’t buy it month after month as it’s really more focussed on home entertainment than music and Hi-Fi specifically. Luckily there’s plenty of choice available online and in print to suit everyone’s needs.

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I stand corrected from basing an assumption on a subset of one year.

2005 when I joined the Naim fold there were no awards for Naim products in the yearly awards issue.

I can’t say I paid much attention thereafter but I’d be surprised if up to the middle part of the last decade for Naim to have more than one or perhaps two awards.

Possibly it’s merely due to the amount of new products in the last 5 years.

.sjb

To add to the conspiracy thinking, many years ago it was suggested to me by my dealer that one brand (which got very good reviews), used to submit specially tweaked products for mag & journo reviews - it wasn’t Naim.

There again, if you read some product reviews & feedback 'sites, people report a product (say an amp) can take up to 6m’s to really ‘open-up’ from new.

Don’t forget that you can get What Hifi free online from most local libraries.

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Some brands don’t send their products in for review, it’s as simple as that. Sometimes back in the day we’d borrow products from dealers (or even buy them!) if we felt there was enough consumer demand for a review (something easier to judge online).
We had to buy Apple iPods for years, as Apple would never send them for review! (They DID send us their first attempt at a speaker - the Apple HiFi - which we gave a 3-star review to!)

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Sorry if I offended you but I was not making an assertion at all. In fact I was dismissing an ill-founded rumour.

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That just reflects the changing market tho, surely. The days when every town had as a minimum a couple of decent hifi shops and John Lewis had a whole dept devoted to decent audio, are long gone, and convergence of home entertainment makes it a no-brainer for a mag like WHF to spread its appeal.

I still flick through it occasionally, haven’t bought a copy since the 90s tho. That’s why it covers more bases - fewer people buy hifi.

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British hifi 4-5 stars
Non British 1-3 stars

Over and over again. I trust forums more.

There’s a simple reason why British hi-fi may get a higher star rating, and that’s because What Hi-Fi reviews on a ‘performance per £’ basis.
British products tend to be cheaper in the UK - no distribution costs, import duties etc - so when reviewed against non-UK brands that may carry a premium, they can have a ‘value’ advantage.

It’s certainly not the case all non-UK brands get poor reviews, though - there are plenty of five-star winners made elsewhere, and indeed even used as What Hi-Fi reference components.

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Don’t worry, you didn’t offend me – I’m not the sort of person to take offence, especially on trivial stuff like hi-fi. It’s just a wearisome assertion that’s repated endlessly, with no proof.

Would love to see your working on that assertion @Blackbird

So well deserved. I’m very satisfied with my Uniti Atom and 3 Mu-so Qb 2nd generation.

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Many thanks for that insight Clare. It’s worth being aware of that sort of fact, especially if an individual is seeking the “best” regardless of price.

I prefer reviewers to keep sound quality separate from price. I can make my own judgement regarding value.

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It seems to me that What Hi-Fi has embraced all spectrums of Hi-Fi products.

I believe it’s certainly a first port of call for reviews if you are new to hi-fi. I think my example may represent a typical Naim buyer these days, especially regarding the one box solutions.

I first came across Naim checking out the reviews on the What Hi-Fi web site, I was impressed with the reviews, I thought Naim was outside my price range though, but I soon managed to find about 12 grand, that was 2013.

I consider it to be a very good ‘go to’ source, where one goes from there is mute.

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Seems to me the award titles are the only thing to criticise due to their ‘absolute’ nature.

I would have to assume that these accolades are based on many factors not just perceived sound quality, and as all-rounders in terms of performance/features, value for money etc they ticked the boxes better than more expensive superior products ‘bang for buck’.

I quite like What HiFi, especially for insights into stuff I know a lot less about. However, I do think that they are missing a bit of a market, in that their ‘top’ tier for kit seems to be about £1000. Now, I get that this quite a sum, but for many of the people still into proper hifi they are able to spend quite a lot more.

This makes the awards somewhat meaningless.

If the ND555 is their reference CD player, why is it not their best one? The best hifi over £1k is the Atom? Same with speakers. Trivialises the awards, IMHO.

They need to get more broad (and upmarket) in some of their reviewing and systems - they would then actually hit more of their target audience, and the reviews would act as halo products for others and drive up the consumption in the magazine. People would probably also want know what the difference is between £50, £250, and £1000 headphones, as well as trying to pick between 3 in the £47-49 category…

They wrote glowing reviews of both the CDS3 and the CD555. It may have changed since, don’t know.

The best hifi over £1k is the Atom?

It’s their Awards and criteria is more of a “best buy” recommendation, it’s not meant to be a best-of list.