Your favorie audio magazine

[Kal Rubinson]

I know there has been internet providers of DACS reviewed, but where are the reviews on speakers,like Salk, has there been reviews of Vapor, Von Schweikert. And what about W4S DACS ?

As long as they meet the published criteria, they can be reviewed. However, there also has to be reviewer interest. In that regard, I can only speak for myself. I have never heard a Salk speaker so, despite my curiosity, it is unlikely I would want to commit to reviewing one. I have never heard of Vapor and I don't do 2channel DACs any more. VS speakers have been reviewed in the past.

I can understand Emotiva with it's major contribution to adds in the mag after all marketing and the sell of advertising allows for publishing.

Irrelevant.

I see where Aperion Audio contacted a reviewer, could any other internet company do the same even if that provider didn't have a dealer network. I did read the policy JA published and it makes sense and makes it a little more clear on how products are selected for review. . http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/307awsi/index.html

If you read it all, you should know that an Internet (or direct sales) company does not have to have (nor is it expected to have) a dealer network as long as it meets the other criteria. And, yes, any company can contact any reviewer.

 

[Ronm1]

Speaking as the editor who did Stereophile's first Emotiva review, I can say that your suspicion is misguided, at best. I requested the product at a CES demo without any knowledge about whether they had ever advertised (and that is because, frankly, I have no interest in the advertisements).

Fair enough Kal. Course the same seq happened at TAS around the same time. Coincidence, misguided or a life, business lesson.

 

[DonH50]

I would assume most companies releasing a new product and starting to grow would want to begin advertising ASAP and would think about contacting a reviewer about the same time. I don't think it is coincidence at all, but certainly do not suspect every reviewer, or even most, are tied to the advert/marketing department. For that matter reviews tend to take a while, and I would expect companies may wait to advertise when the review comes out. Adds are expensive and may go further if people can read about the product in a review. Of course, they may want to seed the minds of the consumers in advance of the review... Anyway, reviewers are people and have their biases, but I think Stereophile is as good or better than most at keeping marketing and reviewing separate.

 

[cpp]

If you read it all, you should know that an Internet (or direct sales) company does not have to have (nor is it expected to have) a dealer network as long as it meets the other criteria. And, yes, any company can contact any reviewer.

Yep read it all

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Fair enough Kal. Course the same seq happened at TAS around the same time. Coincidence, misguided or a life, business lesson.

I have no idea as I have not read TAS in years.

 

[MasterChief]

My favorite is the swedish magazine HiFi&Musik. Great combination of reviews, music and other articles about HiFi history.

 

[Stefan]

Stefan

I vote for Stereophile for their effort to be objective. Tests don't alway correlate with lsietening test, but are published, none the less. Some other publications are worthwhile PF, Tone, Gramaphone, Stereoplay etc.

Soundstage is however biased, have a narrow paradigm and is arrogant. They try to differentiate them on an opinionated set of assumptions and preferences.

 

[prerich]

I still like TAS the best. Although, the recent articles by JV are getting OLD. It seems like every issue he has an epiphany listening to the latest speaker that comes his way. The Raidho being the latest...so much hyperbole in this review, i almost threw up!
Nonetheless, so far it's TAS.

Same here - TAS seems to cover the most IMHO. They also cover a lot of music as well. Stereophile has more testing and measurements, but TAS just has more...more. Even if I don't agree with all of the articles - some of them make for good humor. I do enjoy the feature in the back of TAS - when they interview a famous audio designer or CEO and get their take on things.

 

[prerich]

Looks like I'm the one one who voted for Stereophile. It is my favorite, no doubt, but I would like to see some younger writers, or at the very least someone familiar with pop culture and modern music. Hell, Sam Telling is 70 and listens to relatively anemic pieces; like I give a crap about his reviews. We're all getting older, sure. I'm about to turn 50, myself, and I stared reading the rag in my 20s. We need some fresh blood. Someone like Stephen Mejias, but more interested in high-performance equipment. To be honest, I miss CG most of all. Didn't like him as a guy, but sure loved his writing.

Corey was something else!!! I remember when he wrote for Home Theater, that was a good rag in its early days!

 

[Peter Breuninger]

Looks like I'm the one one who voted for Stereophile. It is my favorite, no doubt, but I would like to see some younger writers, or at the very least someone familiar with pop culture and modern music. Hell, Sam Telling is 70 and listens to relatively anemic pieces; like I give a crap about his reviews. We're all getting older, sure. I'm about to turn 50, myself, and I stared reading the rag in my 20s. We need some fresh blood. Someone like Stephen Mejias, but more interested in high-performance equipment. To be honest, I miss CG most of all. Didn't like him as a guy, but sure loved his writing.

I agree, we need new blood... Zach Galarza is 21 years old.

 

[oceancall]

Personally I read Hi-fi Plus and stereophile, because they both have good analogy coverage.

 

[Orb]

Cannot believe Hi-fi News is missing.
That gets my vote for having some great technical articles, good measurement of Hirez music and digital understanding to explain some of the implications of said hirez albums, and excellent reviews & group tests, Ken Kesslers rant on back page, and some great contributors.
Next would be Stereophile and then joint Hi-Fi+ and Hifi Critic IMO.

For me the icing on the cake are Paul Miller and Keith Howard and to a lesser bit Jim Lesurf for Hi-fi News, and John Atkinson and Kal R at Stereophile; mainly because of all their scientific backgrounds before audio journalism (appreciate Kal R and also Jim Lesurf is still in an university scientific background), and the articles/tools most of these have contributed over some time.
Cheers
Orb

 

[NorthStar]

Paul Miller, Ken Kessler, Alan Sircom, Kal Rubinson, John Atkinson, Jeffrey Fritz, ... all interesting audio writers to read and learn from.

 

[Orb]

Very true Northstar, and would put Soundstage network near the top as well, somehow I just thought about paper publications myself doh.
That said I very much enjoy reading all those mentioned and several others.
Cheers
Orb

 

[valkyrie]

Actually I enjoy all of them - and I mean ALL - TAS, Stereopile, Dagago, Ultra Audio, 6 Moons, Positive Feedback, HiFi News - for where else can you get so much creative science fiction for so low of a price ;-))).

Some of the articles are truly other worldly - in all the rags - both online and on the magazine stand. That humans can make so much out of so little never ceases to amaze me - and I am as guilty of this as all others. We are all merely Epicureans - discussing endlessly the hows and wherefores of the "exquisite". Great fun, intellectually engaging, and most importantly - the MUSIC.