Petition to update Stereophile's recommended headphones/amps list
Oct 18, 2002 at 1:38 AM Post #62 of 78
Wow Mark, congrats! I'm eagerly awaiting my January issue. Come faster december!
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Oct 18, 2002 at 2:41 AM Post #63 of 78
OK, I've been contacted privately by a few people who've asked me to expand my efforts to different audio mags.

My initial answer was: "great, why don't you step up and go for it". But maybe I've created a good template here that can be more or less re-used with other mags to get our point across.

I think "The Absolute Sound", would be the next most obvious "target" here in the States. I was just in my local bookstore and TAS's latest issue was their own "Recommended Components" issue, but I don't think they had a headphone section.

Can someone verify this? Or, if they do in fact have a "Recommended Headphones/Amps" section can you please post their list?

Why don't "we" (me) send TAS a similar letter to see if we can generate a similar response from them? I'm up for it if you are. But our list of components that we would like to see reviewed should be specific and relevant to each targeted mag.

If not TAS, what other audio mag (U.S. or otherwise) would you like to see targeted? I'm glad to help out or to spear-head this effort.

Mark
 
Oct 18, 2002 at 3:51 AM Post #65 of 78
The Absolute Sound's latest issue, which includes their "Recommended Products" for this year costs $10 to download, and maybe $5.00 on the newstand.

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/current.html

So... who's up for getting TAS's "Recommended Products" to post here?

*cough* Tim Schirmer *cough*!

Anyone????

Mark
 
Oct 18, 2002 at 3:51 PM Post #66 of 78
Another perfect example of the ever-increasing power of Internet communities! GREAT JOB!

I'd just like to mention a couple of things about Stereophile:

It's been my experience that the editorial staff at Stereophile could care less who advertises in the book when it comes to who and what gets reviewed. All the writers I have met and talked to personally---and I've talked to a good number of them---are audio geeks to the core and are intensely interested in the gear and not the "business". The one exception would be John Atkinson, who understands his incredible power in this industry and is motivated primarily to encourage the industry to produce better and better products, and to develop an industry that's more fun for the participants at all levels. I have NEVER witnessed even the slightest awareness of favoritism or discrimination based on ad revenue.

The only products that can make it to the RC list is those reviewed in the book; so you won’t see a product on the list unless you’ve seen it in the book previously in a review.

Products are only eligible for review if: the manufacturer has ten dealers or sells direct with a 30-day satisfaction guaranty. Also the product reviewed must be a production model.

It’s my experience that it’s the smaller magazines that are more likely to be influenced by ad revenues because one guy who is aware of both the ad revinue and the editorial content usually runs them. However, I have not seen any case of this directly; it’s just that there is more likely to be a subconscious bias.

In regards to Head-Fi activities in lobbying magazines:

Remember that magazines live off news; they NEED to have newsworthy things to say. Markl, you have done exactly the right thing by communicating the newsworthiness of headphone enthusiasm demonstrated here at Head-Fi, and by showing the relationship between our activities and the health of the high end industry at large. I’d like to remind you all that Stereophile does publish club activities and industry news columns and that with a modest amount of effort Head-Fi could get some exposure in these areas as well.

Lastly, I’d like to encourage you to think about the fact that Head-Fi probably has near the readership that Stereophile has! Head-Fi has a legitimate claim to be a superior source of headphone information for consumers. I think there are some cool things that could be done like having some official threads for important products. Like “The Official Grado SR60 Tread” in which people post once and edit as needed their official “take” on a particular product. That way you would be able to point newbies to one thread that has all the most accurate and well thought out recommendations and warnings from the membership. I would suggest that participation in these threads could be limited to people having over a certain amount of posts. (I like this concept of people qualifying for things based on posts not so much to keep quality high [which it would tend to do] but because I think that it’s appropriate to find ways to encourage participation in the community and foster a sense of earned importance and standing in the community.
 
Oct 19, 2002 at 6:33 AM Post #67 of 78
Prepare for the onslaught, jude. We are about to be inundated with newbies. You need me to buy a couple of more mugs?
 
Oct 19, 2002 at 6:18 PM Post #68 of 78
Quote:

Originally posted by Dusty Chalk
Prepare for the onslaught, jude. We are about to be inundated with newbies. You need me to buy a couple of more mugs?


good lord, you're right. How did I miss that? Head-Fi is about to explode!
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Oct 20, 2002 at 12:43 AM Post #69 of 78
Quote:

Prepare for the onslaught, jude. We are about to be inundated with newbies. You need me to buy a couple of more mugs?


Dusty,
Are you being ironic/sarcastic? Actually, I think this may very well result in a lot of folks checking out our site who wouldn't otherwise be aware of us. After all, even Stereophile readers need a good set of cans for work or for "late-night" listening.

confused.gif


Mark
 
Oct 20, 2002 at 1:32 AM Post #70 of 78
Mods:
This thread has gotten off track and it would be best if a new thread was started concerning this hypothetical new section of Head-Fi.

Please don't list me as "thread-starter"! That "honor" should go to MacDEF.

Mark
 
Oct 20, 2002 at 3:38 AM Post #71 of 78
Quote:

Originally posted by markl
Are you being ironic/sarcastic? Actually, I think this may very well result in a lot of folks checking out our site who wouldn't otherwise be aware of us. After all, even Stereophile readers need a good set of cans for work or for "late-night" listening.


Not at all, I was being completely serious. Notice, also, that I did not convey my feelings about the subject. It was merely a prediction.
 
Oct 20, 2002 at 4:03 AM Post #73 of 78
Since Tyll's suggestion created a discussion that veered away from the original topic, I've split the thread, and moved the discussion to a separate thread called "Headphone Summary Pages". Discussion of Markl's letter to Stereophile should continue here.
 
Oct 20, 2002 at 4:57 AM Post #75 of 78
Quote:

Not at all, I was being completely serious. Notice, also, that I did not convey my feelings about the subject. It was merely a prediction.


Dusty, do you mean the potential for slowing this site down to a crawl from all the traffic?
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