[jms007bnd007]

So what is the best audiophile magazine out there? I want something that does the whole range of topics, not just headphones.

 

[andrzejpw]

I'm wondering the exact same thing.

 

[BenG]

I would use forums like this one or AA to get better and more up to date information, problem w/ forums, though, is you have to sort through a lot of info.

Most Audio mags, like mags in general, are put in check by the advertisers so you have to take them with a grain of salt. You'll hardly ever see a product getting an overtly bad review.

 

[DarkAngel]

Use the great Audiophile review sites online, wealth of info available for free:

Stereotimes
Free web publication with very large archives of past reviews to check out. Does have adds but for free how can you complain, I find this source every bit as good as Stereophile or Absolute sound.

Soundstage
Also free web publication with large archive of past reviews, similar to Stereotimes.

Positive Feedback/Audio Musings
Subscription magazine with some older material now available free online in archives. Some products are reviewed by multiple reviewers which gives good alternative views format.

 

[DeanA]

Quote:

Originally posted by jms007bnd007 So what is the best audiophile magazine out there? I want something that does the whole range of topics, not just headphones.

Good thing too, because headphones don't get mentioned a lot of in the print press.

 

[tanfenton]

Adding to DA's list: http://www.enjoythemusic.com/ and http://www.tnt-audio.com/ .

NGF

 

[acidtripwow]

I don't know if they're still around but I really like HiFi +. They have good writing which is short and to the point and they have fantastic pictures. I haven't seen a copy at Tower Records for a few months now so I don't know if they stopped publishing or Tower just ran out of copies. My favorite audio/video mag was Home Theater back when they used to have Jeff Cherun. He was a great writer who made things funny and interesting. Now HTM really sucks bad. I think Jeff is now working for DVD, etc mag but his writing is really toned down and boring now.

 

[andrzejpw]

what do you guys think of stereophile?

 

[Anders]

Hifi+ still exists. They also have a website where some of the reviews are published.
http://www.hifiplus.com

 

[john_jcb]

What I have tried to do when reading reviews for audio equipment no matter what the magizine is to find a reviewer that hears what I hear or close to it. I do this by looking at older reviews of something I have personally auditioned and comparing my impressions with the reviewers. Everyone process what they hear differently and if you can find someone with similar tastes you will not go wrong too often.

 

[andrzejpw]

what about stereophile. . . . ?

 

[jms007bnd007]

Quote:

Originally posted by DarkAngel Use the great Audiophile review sites online, wealth of info available for free:

Hey thanks for that list, free is definitely gonna work out better for me.

 

[Polygon]

I used to read Stereo Review quite a while back. I wonder you guys think about it. I was thinking of getting a subscription because, IMO, it was a good place to keep me up to date on some of the better stuff out there, also T3 is another good mag i read for audio, too bad they are an electronics mag and not dedicated to audio.

 

[mbriant]

Quote:

Most Audio mags, like mags in general, are put in check by the advertisers so you have to take them with a grain of salt. You'll hardly ever see a product getting an overtly bad review.

I'm sorry to say, this statement is true.

The vast majority of consumer magazines are indeed dependent upon advertising to survive. They therefore tend to seek out products for review that they already like and know will fare well under testing. They don't necessarily lie, but they do tend to avoid controversey and fluff over the bad parts...if indeed there are truly bad parts. The fact is, most mainstream audio products are extremely competitive in quality and price. It's very difficult to say that $300 CD Player "A" is vastly superior to $300 CD Player "B".... because in most cases they are very, very close.

High end magazines tend to say that a $10,000 CD player is superior to a $7,000 CD player which is superior to a $4,000 CD player etc. etc. This is how they avoid the politics.

I'm sure many of you have read movie or CD reviews you completely agreed with and others you completely disagreed with. That's because the reviewer's thoughts, like your own, are subjective...simply that person's opinion which can be biased in any number of ways. And we all know how many different opinions of audio equipment there can be.

What magazine reviews can do, is let you know what's out there, give you some technical insight, and steer you in the right direction by pointing out positive and negative features of a given product. By reading multiple reviews, sometimes common patterns emerge which can help the reader accurately realize strengths or faults in a given product.

Like movie/cd reviewers, it's good to find A/V reviewers who's opinions you mostly agree with and can therefore trust in most instances.

The reviews on public internet review sites, particularly the short one or two paragraph reviews, really have to be taken with a grain of salt however, as often they are written by an extremely enthusiastic... or extremely unenthusiastic .... buyer of a given product. A non-professional who probably hasn't had much, if any experience with other products. Often, these "reviewers" are simply parroting what they've heard others say. Also, you tend to find retailers or manufacturers reps publishing bogus reviews on these sites to shill their own product or crap over someone else's. That's not to say there aren't some excellent reviews on these sites however.... not to mention the benefit of having multiple reviews of the same product at one location.

 

[Calanctus]

I may agree with all the comments regarding the close relationship between advertisers and print audio magazines. However I do have a favourite, because of the quality of their writing: The Absolute Sound. Their editorial (in terms of the English language) standards seem, to my reading tastes, to be the highest of all the newsstand stuff.

I haven't investigated the audio sites well enough to know whether they are also advertiser-dollar-driven...but if you are shy of writing and reviews possibly tainted by monetary considerations, then you are already in the right place: an Internet bulletin board, where actual users post their experiences.