Which Hi-Fi mag (rag?) do you read?

Hi there,

I personally like Triple XXX its extremely informative & contains explict detail...all other mags are purely wank!

Mad Boy Matt

I prefer the softer paper used by Hi Fi World as it isn't as scratchy as the others and is easier to flush.

[This message was edited by Rockingdoc on THURSDAY 24 October 2002 at 15:30.]

[This message was edited by Rockingdoc on THURSDAY 24 October 2002 at 16:00.]

I had read the last few months there have been reviews of some of the new Naim gear.

I appreciate Alans point that it is someone elses view but I enjoy listening to other people's view.
Hence my enjoyment of this forum.

NB

quote:

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A more interesting (and possibly relevant) question would be to ask how many people bother to read 'Music' magazines ?

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I don't generally read HiFi magazines, although I enjoyed the 'Listener', and occasionally get 'HiFi plus' which is well presented. The only reviewers who writes anything that I remotely agree with (or understand) is Paul Messenger and our very own Jason Hector, who despite some occasional round-earth tendencies understands musicality in the same way I do.

On Music mags, I like 'Jockey Slut' which is great and covers a broad section of the music I like, and I sometimes get the arty-farty 'The Wire'. I think the Wire suffers from the trying too hard to be cool syndrome, but I do like the section on 'outer limits' and the Wire Tapper free CD's.

Dev

I'm guilty of reading a fair number of these 'rags.

Can't say it is necessary to have subscriptions, but if an article is of interest I will probably buy that issue. I find it a good reference, although one does have to read with a critical eye as in all such things.

Its worth saying, that as someone fairly new to this Forum, how much I have enjoyed reading & learning from members here.

I read Hi fi World and stereophile and a portuguese magazine Audio:At first I read what Hi Fi but it´s very commercial

MY system : Naim Nait 5 amplifier,Nad c 540 cd player,B&W 601 speakers,Naca5

Now we know Nuno's problem - he reads too many HiFi
magazines.

David

Strangely I've tried most of the them over the last month, i.e.

WHF
Hi-fi choice
hi-fi news
hi-fi plus

You can also add to that:
Home entertainment
Home Cinema

Basically I was bored with the book I was reading on the way to work in a tube, and fancied checking out some options.
The home cinema mags were more interesting as they actually talked about full installations as well as just pure equipment. Which reminded me that when I was younger and regularly read hi-fi choice, that I enjoyed their monthly section on a persons home kit.

As for the mags in question, most are crap. Guess I just enjoy the controversy I've considering when reading comments like:

Against: Nothing

Now I haven't got a problem with that, apart from the fact that they're talking about a £200 home cinema amp which has such a long list of compromises, that even a full andrex roll wouldn't fit it on.

Lets just say that I read them more for fun than to take their results seriously.

Talking of seriously, anyone here read PC World. God how I hate some of their results. I'm sure that some of the guys haven't got a clue about testing.

I mainly read for amusement value:

HiFi+
HiFi News

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

We get the major British and US magazines at our local Borders Books and music.

I think I've read and bought just about everything out there. I'll run them down briefly by catagory:

pretty good:
Hi-Fi +
Stereophile

At this moment, hi-Fi + is my favorate. Three reasons. First, they seem to cover a lot of gear that I am not familiar with, but which is kind of affordable. Secondly, I really like the photography--it has a sort of Porn-fetish feel to it, particularly the inside shots. Finally, the reviews tend to be "among" (although the THE) the most indepth. They ussualy talk about the build quality, the use of, AND the sound of the gear, rather than just one of the three. I get a sense from them that I'm getting a more of less complete report on the equipment being reviewed.

I like Stereophile because, not matter what else you might think of them, thier reviews tend to be the most in depth of any of the magazines. I'm inclined to agree that they don't always take the most "objective" view of all the gear (and they seem to recommend everything they review) once you've been reading it a while, you learn how to figure out what they like a dislike. Reviews that end in some varient of "of all the pre-amps under $3000 I have reviewed in the last 2 years, this is certainly one of them. . ." are just as informative as if they said "eyh, you can do better than this piece of gear for the money". You know what I mean?

Also, Stereophile has the best analogue reporting (by far) and industry update reporting. You just can't get this stuff anywhere else. All this despite the fact that they report far too often on $40,000 amplifiers and the like).

Before it went belly up, Listener was my favorate because they had the most indepth reviews. But, towards the end (which has nothing to do with the end) I started to question some of the editorial policy. For instance, there started to appear an inordinate amount of "niche" gear like full range horns and survey of treatment pucks. I know that the editorial really liked this stuff, but I'm pretty sure that 5 reviews of $6,000 full range horn systems have about as much utility as a review of the Wilson A-1 Grandslam (or whatever the hell it is).

The recent review of the nac32.5 is a prime example of this misguided policy. In fairness, the review was great, but it had pretty much no utility. For somebody who might have been interested to get into a piece of Naim gear, the 32.5 would have been the last piece to review. It's quarky, needs a seperate power supply (or amp) and has non-standard connections. it's also somewhat hard to find. I understand the reason for doing a piece of naim fron days gone by (best second hand value in the world) but, I think a Niat 2 or a complete 32.5/110 combination would have made a lot more sense. It was great fetish reading for all of us, but it did little to further the cause.

So-so

These journals are basically potty buddies:

hi-fi News and What-hifi I only buy for porn value. The reviews are too short, and totally lacking in information. But, the pictures are nice (and I do see gear on occassion that i have not seen before). But, generally, it's just toilet paper.

The Absolute Sound has to go into this catagory as well. Over the past year or two, this rag has been in some pretty intense competition with the two-ply quilted Charmin. The reviews are getting really short, and are generally impoverished of editorial content. Also, I'm finding it difficult to find interesting columns to read in here (unlike S-phile, with Sam's Space and the Fifth Element--both of which i normally like). The journal (if I can call it that) is started to take on a StereoReview/Hi-Fidelity feel to it. I'm not going to be reading it in the future.


Audiophile Voice and the Audio Critic. These two rags ought to opologize for using up our trees. Invariably the gear chosen is uninteresting and the reviews are shallow. Even the pictures such ass. Both of these toilet paper precursers generally run VERY thin, and represent poor values. I would accuse Fi of much the same, but it went out of business a while back.

Just my opinion.

judd

About the only usable is "Image Hi-Fi".
http://www.image-hifi.com

The web-site is very restricted for a non registrated user. Guest is better and free, but fully accessible only for a mag-subscription user.

The magazine is produced fine, but not cheap and comes new every 2 months. The next (nr.49, 13.dec.) should have a nac552 test...

There is also a AV-brother named "Image Home Entertainment".
http://www.heimkinomarkt.de/Partner/Image/Image_HE.asp
The last (nr.29) had a test of av2/nap150/nap175.

happy listening

Adrian