Hi Fi magazine reviews

I'd rather put the money to some more music.

I can't remember the last time I bought a specialist mag, probably a Scooter mag.

I have looked at the online HiFi mag , but I didn't enjoy  reading from a screen, the contents were fine and had some good articles.

My main problem is not knowing if the reviewer has anywhere near the same "taste" for want of a better word than I. It sort of makes the whole experience  a bit pointless IMO.

Like many I've previously bought on a mag review and found the products wanting.

I subscribe to a couple of paper mags and online mags.

Paper - Hi-Fi news. I just find the whole mag a good read. Its a good mix of technical + reviews and interesting contributors too.

Hi-Fi Critic - good technical content and no adverts. I've always enjoyed Martin Colloms articles.  

Ipad - Tone Audio and Stereophile. A good read and good record reviews too.

How much do i take note of reviews ? They are a good guide to a short list of items i want to listen to, but i'd never buy without listening first, in my system and my home. The technical aspect of a review is quite important to me especially the explanation of why something sounds different. 

James

I buy them on and off - but always take everything with a pinch of salt.
They're useful for shortlisting stuff and the technical aspect (which I find interesting).
Hi-Fi World is always a good read - and doesn't try to hype every new product going. It's also got a sense of humour.
Hi-Fi+ is good for the drool factor (£135,000 amps etc.) but seems congenitally unable to give a bad review to anything.
Mind you, if it's a toss-up between buying a mag or a CD I'll take the latter every time!!!

Not sure why quote didn't work correctly the first time but here we go again:



That's it for me as well. 

I got to the point of giving up on all the BS spouted in most of the mags.

If you want a laugh then Google "Michael Fremer Arthur Salvatore" 

And also pay attention to Arthur's " The (Secret) Rules of Audio Reviewing" on the same page. I bet you'll have them in mind whilst you read the next review. I was mentally ticking them off the list!

John

John,

Thanks for the tip. It made for lovely lunch time reading and is of course directly transferable to many other reviewing areas, music, cars, etc.

Mark Ellen of The Word mentioned recently that a former publishing manager that he worked for suggested selling good record reviews to the record companies as an additional source of income! He declined none too suprisingly.

Good reviewing can only come from someone who is completely unconnected with the source, which tends to be almosy impossible to achieve.

Jono

Excellent read, thanks John.

I makes us lot seem very erudite?

Excellent read for LOL,  but you cannot take that kinda rant seriously - can you 
I've seen some rants in other activities I am involved with, but this one seems a little unhinged.
But it does seem to hit on a few suspicions we all have about some aspects of the hifi mags.
The writing style, the use of underscore, colour, font, bold, etc.,   all remind me of some of our more colourful politicians.  My first impression was its like Nigel Farage being asked to comment on the weather & finding a way to blame Europe.

Good idea for a thread Mike.

I really miss Art Dudley's Listener magazine ; offbeat, unhinged and often completely biased. But it made for fascinating and entertaining reading. I remember it not so much for equipment recommendations but more for the contagious passion of the reviewers. Despite moving on to Stereophile, Art manages to keep his perspective.

I like The Absolute Sound, Hi-Fi+ (TAS sister publication) and Hi-fi News. I use them primarily for news and information having pretty much found a great dealer and set a course for my system. These magazines were instrument in determining my shortlist, especially TAS. Also, though I don't read it What Hi-Fi is where I first learned of Naim.

True confessions time......I like almost all of the hi-fi magazines.   Pretty pictures, interesting feature articles, a little hi-fi history,  opinion columns, letters to the editor -- all good, light entertainment by my low standards.

Seems like most of the angst is over the reviews, but even most of those seem pretty fair to me.   Stereophile, Hi-Fi Word and Hi-Fi News, typically have one writer do the subjective review, and a different writer do the measurements.   In Stereophile, at least, it is not uncommon to have the latter question the former's conclusions, so, to me, they give the appearance of trying to get it right.   TAS and Hi-Fi+ are 100% subjective, but I think the photography and writing skills are high enough to make them both worth a look.

Maybe it is just the new format, but Hi-Fi Choice seems to have gone downhill.   They seem to have less content, and less depth than either World or News.  I cancelled What Hi-Fi, and will likely do the same for Choice.  But I think the rest of them are just fine.

Hope this doesn't sound self-righteous, but I also enjoy dropping off the back issues at one of my local hospital's waiting rooms.  Hopefully those "comics" will help some music lovers pass the time just a little easier.

Hook

Hi-Fi World is entraining at times, especially the letters page where somebody has bought an old Goldring TT and Pye valve amp at a boot sale for £12 11s 6d and it blows everybody else's system out of the water. Of course, if it has an idler wheel and valve in it then it must sound better. As long as you don't make any buying decisions on the basis of reviews then it is fine; only way to do that is with the help of a good dealer and ideally a home demonstration. 

Is Hi-Fi critic, which I've seen, but very unlikely to buy, the one that gives points so you know Amp A is better than Amp B because it got 86 and the other only 83. If not I apologise, if so then surely you're having a laugh (nothing wrong with a laugh, of course). 

I don't see the point of a bake-off as it seems to imply one piece of kit is better than other, which is seldom the case for two well made items - if you read this forum you'll see why. So many different preferences - all I can do is say things like I prefer the Naim UnitQute to any other integrated set-up I've heard, and I think that's all reviewers do. You may agree, you may disagree, but nothing has been proved. One of the worst systems I've ever heard was assembled by the Hi-Fi World team - it was fronted by a Michell TT too and I really rate that as a source. Of course, I don't like valves or horn loaded loudspeakers or MF kit, so it makes perfect sense that to me my neighbours conrad-johson amps into Tannoy horns fronted by his MF turntable sound superb. 

So a hi-fi mag can have interesting articles, but kit reviews that seem to dominate are the least useful because the majority are subjective.

All the best Guy

I normally buy Playboy and Just Men....not much in though about HiFi reviews.

True. The better multiple comparisons, such as Diapason's review of 13 DACs, identified several superior machines, each with their own set of favourable attributes. If these attributes match your personal preferences, then the *winner* is easy to spot. For a Naim head, the nDAC is the clear favourite.