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TONE Audio - worst audio mag out there?

post #1 of 26
2/7/06 at 11:46am
Thread Starter 
I've downloaded both issues of the TONE Audio magazine (http://www.tonepublications.com/tone-audio.htm) for which Head-Fi's own immtbiker writes the headphone column. OMG, this magazine is a quintessence of all things wrong with audio magazines. Giving thumbs up to everything they review? Yes. Putting everything they review to their reference system? Yes. Taking power cords seriously? Yes. Putting an advertisement of a product right in the middle of the review of this particular product (Aperion speakers)? God damn, YES. I think it's wrong and ugly in so many ways...

On the other hand, they've got nice music reviews. Articles on vintage gear are also nice.
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post #2 of 26
2/7/06 at 12:48pm
I'm just happy to have another resource for my roving eyes - plus, immtbiker never lets me get near his precious vintage Koss, so that's the only shot i have at em - oh, vicarious living! And yes, long live vintage gear reviews! Did you see that Vintage monster Technics receiver in Issue one? Juicy!
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post #3 of 26
2/7/06 at 1:01pm
As with most audio mags they probably decline to review gear they don't like. Yours is a common complaint; I guess in your free time you all like to watch videos of train wrecks and read bad Bose Triport reviews on Amazon.
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post #4 of 26
2/7/06 at 4:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mulveling
As with most audio mags they probably decline to review gear they don't like. Yours is a common complaint; I guess in your free time you all like to watch videos of train wrecks and read bad Bose Triport reviews on Amazon.
i personally prefer to watch videos of Bose wrecks and read bad train reviews, but whatever floats your boat.
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post #5 of 26
2/7/06 at 4:59pm
Sometimes I wonder what people expect from an audio magazine. Of what use is a dozen reviews of equipment the reviewer disliked? Now I've spent 2 hours of my life reading about things I shouldn't buy? Useless information. I'd rather be alerted to the things I should be looking at and researching and contemplating.

I have no idea what the editorial policy of Tone is, or what the ethical situation is or is not there, but most of these magazines do have a policy of only reviewing the gear they liked.

As someone who occasionally gets sent stuff to review for this site, I really don't feel like spending the hours necessary to throroughly audition a piece I didn't like, then have to expend all the energy of writing up a thoughtful review on something that didn't work for me in my system. It's depressing and how many paragraphs should you spend enumerating all the ways you don't like it? After a very short amount of time, that sounds like mean-spirited nastiness, and what purpose does it serve? Speaking for myself, I'd rather use my energy to let my friends know about something that really rang my bells.



Also, let's say a magazine is in cahoots with company X. Company Y is Company X's big competitor. Now you get a really nasty review of Company Y's latest product in the pages of the magazine. Does that tell you they are impartial, or could it be they are bad-mouthing the competitor to boost sales of Company X's products?
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post #6 of 26
2/7/06 at 5:05pm
Exactly. Take it all with a grain of salt, kick back, and enjoy the read. But just on the side, I doubt immtbiker is getting payola on the side to shill those old Koss cans - that's pure love of the hobby, baby!
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post #7 of 26
2/7/06 at 5:12pm
The essential problem is that the reviewer's motivations are uncertain, and cannot be convincingly revealed by anything they write (positive or negative!) The only way you can take a decent guess is to understand the social networks underlying (i.e. who is in cahoots with who), which is difficult, if they've done their job! In other words:

1) A magazine writes nothing but glowing reviews. Are they proponents of 'don't say anything if you haven't got something nice to say', or are they publishing a pseudo-advertisement?

2) A magazine writes mostly bad reviews. Are they being honest, or are they selectively denigrating certain brands (again, an indirect pseudo-advertisement, the opposite of (1))?

3) A magazine writes a fairly equal mix of good / bad reviews. Are they impartial, or are they favouring their advertisers?

In all cases, the true information content of the reviews is suspect. (3) appears the best proxy for impartiality, perhaps. A major issue might be that for a small low-budget mag, it might be hard to get ahold of gear to review unless you agree not to publish a bad review. Also, one has to keep in mind whose interests it serves to publish such magazines anyways!
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post #8 of 26
2/7/06 at 5:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by leonya
I've downloaded both issues of the TONE Audio magazine (http://www.tonepublications.com/tone-audio.htm) for which Head-Fi's own immtbiker writes the headphone column. OMG, this magazine is a quintessence of all things wrong with audio magazines. Giving thumbs up to everything they review? Yes. Putting everything they review to their reference system? Yes. Taking power cords seriously? Yes. Putting an advertisement of a product right in the middle of the review of this particular product (Aperion speakers)? God damn, YES. I think it's wrong and ugly in so many ways...

On the other hand, they've got nice music reviews. Articles on vintage gear are also nice.
I'm sure if you ask nice they will refund your subscription
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post #9 of 26
2/7/06 at 5:21pm
Which is why Head-fi is a good spot to grab some honest reviews - you can usually filter through the bias and conspiracies and all that junk pretty quickly here and just get to the meat of it, which is nice. I know that when I need to do research on a can/amp/source/etc, the search function is my friend and really digs up some great stuff quickly.
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post #10 of 26
2/7/06 at 5:27pm
Jahn, stop posting here and read your gmail!

Best,

-Jason
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post #11 of 26
2/7/06 at 5:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jjcha
Jahn, stop posting here and read your gmail!

Best,

-Jason
I can't! No access to personal email where I currently am :ninja face:
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post #12 of 26
2/7/06 at 5:32pm
Doh!!

Lol, makes a lot of sense... okay, I'll send you a PM.

Best,

-Jason
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post #13 of 26
2/7/06 at 6:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jahn
I can't! No access to personal email where I currently am :ninja face:
Of course! That's because they're afraid if they gave you access to your personal email, you would goof off all day on the internet.
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post #14 of 26
2/7/06 at 6:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wmcmanus
Of course! That's because they're afraid if they gave you access to your personal email, you would goof off all day on the internet.
Yeah, whatever would give them THAT idea?
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post #15 of 26
2/7/06 at 6:27pm
At the end of the day.. whatever these guys say in these magazines is pretty much personal to them and just because their ears like a particular product doesn't mean everyone's ears will like it. Ears are acoustic devices and as unique as fingerprints, we all hear things differently, so I pay little attention to the ramblings of some reviewer and always use my own ears to decide what's good for me.

I enjoy reading the technical specifications in some magazines but all this bullspeak about "boxy colouration", "slam", "subterranean bass", "airy highs" and all that other ***** speak just goes in one ear and out the other.. sure they can be a fun read but, at the end of the day, they are not the audio bible and what they think doesn't really matter as far as my own ears are concerned. The amount of occasions I have read a rave review only to find the piece of equipment sounded awful (to my ears) taught me that what's good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander.

Enjoy these mags but always use your own ears before purchasing.
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