Wow, just WOW. What a load of BS.
It seems that a week without Magico bashing from caesar would be incomplete.
Elberoth, this is a discussion forum of the most knowledgeable, successful and intelligent fans on the web. Whereas on other sites people are either clueless, politically correct chickens that are too scared to offend, or too dogmatic to consider other points of view, people come to this site not only to share their experiences in this subjective hobby, but more importantly - to DISTURB their point of view and challenge their paradigms, which results in the greatest understanding and learnings – and better systems! And, of course, we are having a lot of fun discussing IDEAS about the hobby from all angles. I stand by what I wrote regarding magico’s marketing approach of the S lines and Q lines of products. But, feel free to agree or disagree with anything I say.
Contrary to popular belief, I am actually a Magico speakers fan. I liked their mini and I think the new S products are fantastic. For those who like box speakers, Magico / CAT is hard to beat! I also, for the most part, like their business strategy of separating the analytic/ “transparency to source” Q line and the more audio fan-friendly S line.
However, please don't confuse my dislike for certain, self- interested “audio journalists”, who waste audio fans' time and money with my appreciation for Magico as a company and its products. So let's break things down a bit more:
- The incentives of reviewers and audio fans don't align. High end audio gear is a very expensive luxury and many guys can’t afford to play at a high level. One way to those goodies it to become “reviewers”. The famous ones want their toys for free, long term loans, and also want the piece of gear before other reviewers get them, which increases business to their publications.
But unfortunately, these guys also lack integrity and are gutless to report on how things actually sound. So they mislead and obfuscate, being too gutless to identify a speaker’s flaws until the next version. Case and point: how many of these flunkeys correctly called out the Q series’ sonic signature? Other than Fremer, no one. They had to wait until Q7 II came out to notice that the speaker was tipped up in upper midrange / lower treble and was lacking bass energy.
As they get these freebies from manufacturers that mere mortals don’t, why would they write anything bad about the gear and alienate their sugar daddies, the manufacturers? There are exceptions, of course. For example: many Stereophile guys and the aforementioned, Fremer. Fremer is exceptionally unusual, a most respected writer in a world of audio lies, clearly standing out from the lackeys and sycophants because he has enough self –esteem and a strong personal brand to not be afraid to hand out bad reviews. He’s not bombastic either - look at how low key Fremer’s review of Wilson xlf was. He kept it as his reference. But other than just a few guys, the “audio journalists” only think of their own needs.
Audio fans, on the other hand have other objectives and incentives: many normal audio fans, even if they are somewhat knowledgeable, have vague or conflicting goals, time pressures to fly out and hear components, scheduling issues for trying stuff in their own system, limited information on all the stuff out there and how it may impact their system, and changing system conditions to deal with. Gear swapping may be fun, buy the intelligent audiophiles know that one very quickly gets used to something new, and the fake happiness of a new piece of gear quickly fades away if not part of the ultimately journey to your musical bliss. So overall, most audio fans just want to find that state of beauty and flow in music as an escape from BS of life.
But selecting audio gear is difficult. The very best option for the audio fan is impossible due to an overwhelming amount of products, time, money, and logistics. But choosing a good and reasonable option can be obtained through hard work.
Yet for fans, the penalty of a bad gear decision is consequential: wasted time, money, banged up gear (while moving it around), and FRUSTRATION!
However, most reviewers are not helpful with the audio fans’ journey. The reviewers, of course, don’t care about the helping the fans take the guesswork, randomness, and frustration out of the audio purchasing process. In fact they profit from the confusion that is out there.
So many of these reviewers just write some abstract gibberish and call something the BEST there is! As an example, take the work of Robert “worthless to the audio fan” Harley. All of his work unfortunately is pure junk from the perspective of an audio fan because he doesn’t compare: You can blank out the name of the Berkeley reference DAC product Harley reviewed, and because it's all abstract junk and there are no comparisons to the $100K dcs he had just reviewed a couple months prior, the Berkeley review reads the same as a review if written by the famous, self-loathing audiophile, Ethan Winer of a 9.99 CD player he bought at Walmart. Just switch the names of the guys and the products, and no one will know the difference between Harley’s and Winer’s work. But this is just one of many examples. He also recently wrote about how great the $18K aurender is, but he only compared it to his regular, every day computer… What about the dcs and naim he had? The aurender happens to be great, which shows even a blind pig finds a truffle once in a while. : ) : ) : )
- Being called the BEST, of course, if just fine with the manufacturers! Magico doesn't want Stereophile’s or anyone else’s scrutiny; Wolf prefers the lackeys and sycophants to write about his products. His guys just parrot the magico marketing message. I don't blame him at all for this, who wouldn’t want the same thing for the fruits of their work?!
But the world doesn't work that way: guys like wolf can try and shape the marketing message, but people will go to listen to his gear and not only judge the audio products – and call things as they hear them!, but also judge the reviewers he is using. Experiences are very easy to share these days, and what he thinks is a strength – a lot of “audio authorities” praising his brand, is actually a weakness dragging down his brand. There is an un-authentic quality to his brand due to the dissonance between what the “authorities” are saying and what the audio fans have experienced, especially with the Q line. Furthermore, pointing out shortcomings of gear improves his products and benefits overall audio community. But it also makes magico more “real”, genuine, and respected.
Furthermore, these days, people share all kinds of experiences: pre - purchase, selection, experience during purchase, and throughout the lifetime of the product. This is the new normal. In fact, experiences people have with the magico product is defined through the expressions people share. So by associating with “audio journalists” who have created the fukc the audio fan culture, there is Less trust in magico.
Audio reviewers aren't doing any favors for themselves either. Talk to many knowledgeable audiophile at a meeting or a show, and they will gladly share their thoughts on these “audio journalists”. To summarize and sanitize (in case children are reading), most fans think the “audio journalists” are filthy, disgusting mother foyers. This is very unfortunate because many reviewers are really good guys.
- Since wolf is going after the musicality market now with S line and CAT amps – as a distinct target market from his Q speakers, he has a strong incentive to find new reviewers who care about emotional engagement vs. hearing every distracting detail on the recording that “transparency to source” listeners love so much. The guys that got Wolf here won't be of help. Wolf, himself, has somewhat accepted this. He can easily market the S series as a “cheaper” alternative to the S. The fans would then know it as a red-headed bastard child of the Q. So, instead, wolf has been marketing the 2 lines differently. He has been showing the q line with soulution and the s line with CAT, which may be the best tube gear on the planet. So why not extend this marketing logic to the guys who represent his brands in writing to the fans? Reality is for magico to truly succeed and get to the next level, wolf needs a lot more guys like “Mellifluous” Myles Astor vs. “Sterile” Jon Valin, “Don’t own Magico? YOU SUCK!” Fritz, and Robert “worthless to the audio fan” Harley that now serve as his marketing representatives. It's judo strategy in reverse. The fans interested in musicality don’t trust his current crop of reviewers, unless these “transparency to source”, analytical reviewers undergo electroshock therapy, or full lobotomies, in some instances. : ) : )
So please don't confuse my bashing of the “audio journalists" with commenting on the magico, whose strategy has overall been successful so far, both in terms of their goals and all the positive disruptions it has caused in our hobby to make it better.
