[duchamp]

Here is an interesting article on audio journalism and includes an opinion on Stereophile magazine.
http://www.high-endaudio.com/magaz.html

 

[sxr71]

Quote:

Originally Posted by duchamp Here is an interesting article on audio journalism and includes an opinion on Stereophile magazine. http://www.high-endaudio.com/magaz.html

I completely agree with them.

 

[murrmax]

I don't like to be cynical - but I agree with Duchamp..

I'd take Headrooms review anyday, they might increase it's points(slightly) due to the fact stereophile wrote a glowing review therefore they can sell more of them.
Stereophile gives them a glowing review so 1stly Grado spends advertising dollars with them then and secondly keep the glowing reviews coming Grado makes more money and spends more on advertising in advertising or editorials(another form of advertising)..with stereophile ..everybodys happy in the line ..even the consumer..until they get to Head-fi.. a process of discovery.

In the end listen to lots and then make your own informed descision..

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by duchamp Here is an interesting article on audio journalism and includes an opinion on Stereophile magazine. http://www.high-endaudio.com/magaz.html

I love folks who hate everything

Quote:

Originally Posted by donunus Well, It's not in class A in the recommended components so there. Stereophile simply just think its great for the price. Headroom listens to a lot of headphones so they have a better basing for value on cans I think

Stereophile also listens to $100,000 loudspeakers. Apples and oranges yes, but they know what good sound is. I think.

Quote:

Originally Posted by murrmax Stereophile gives them a glowing review so 1stly Grado spends advertising dollars with them

When has Grado advertised in Stereophile? Check your facts before making such statements.

 

[clarke68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fewtch IMO, poor recordings are both more common and a worse problem than low cost sources/amps (most of which are at least decent these days). P.S. I feel that the issue with poor recordings is generally underrated and neglected around here.

True dat. Amen, brother Fewtch.

Thing is, Stereophile gives glowing reviews to just about everything, and even the stuff that doesn't still ends up somewhere on their "Recommended Components" list.

Headroom tends away from Grado, I think, because their amps are optimized for high-impedance 'phones. I probably wouldn't like 'em either if all I had to listen to them with was a balanced Max.

Best to find someone here with equipment and musical tastes similar to yours and see what they think.

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drarthurwells Grados are good for low cost sources and amps. Their lack of inner detail and resolution masks problems with components. Really fine resolving phones like the Etymotic 4S and Sony SA5000 will reveal problems with low cost sources and amps - but with good sources and amps will bring out inner detail and timbral nuances without congesting complex passages.

Low cost is bad? What a snobbish generalization.

Quote:

Originally Posted by clarke68 Stereophile gives glowing reviews to just about everything

Would you rather they just gave sh--ty reviews to sh--ty equipment? Or would you rather find out about some of the great sounding new components available?

Quote:

Originally Posted by clarke68 even the stuff that doesn't still ends up somewhere on their "Recommended Components" list.

No they do not. Show me something that got a bad review that made it's way onto Recommended Components.

 

[clarke68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle Would you rather they just gave sh--ty reviews to sh--ty equipment? Or would you rather find out about some of the great sounding new components available?

There are some products on the market that I think a general warning would be appropriate. But I'd trust them a whole lot more if, just every now and then, they'd print something like, "Yeah, this thing sounds pretty good, but for $10,000...you gotta be kidding me!"


Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle Show me something that got a bad review that made it's way onto Recommended Components.

NHT SuperTwo. From Brian Damkroger's review:

Quote:

I can't, however, recommend the SuperTwo for serious two-channel, audio-only applications. True, it's a pleasant-sounding, stylish, well-built, full-range loudspeaker that retails for only $750/pair, but I don't agree with the compromises that were made, especially on the bottom end. But that's a matter of personal taste, and yours may differ. The real problem with the SuperTwo, and the reason I hesitate to recommend it, is that, given today's competition, a nice-sounding, well built, etc. $750/pair speaker just isn't good enough.

Made Stereophile Class D in April of 2000.

Now, how about you return the favor and find a bad review in Stereophile (that alone is hard enough) that didn't make it on to the recommended components list. And you can't say "Bose 901s!", that's cheating.

 

[catscratch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by duchamp Here is an interesting article on audio journalism and includes an opinion on Stereophile magazine. http://www.high-endaudio.com/magaz.html

Thanks for the link, it was a very interesting read. I don't have any experience with the audio mags that they name (yep, I'm a noob still), so I can't comment on how accurate this is. But it does seem like a very likely scenario.

I've always trusted my own ears. I've also taken risks on less-known components, and some of them paid off. I've also made goofs in recommending components on hearsay which I didn't like upon first hearing them, and I am the first to admit that, due to inexperience, my opinion has been entirely too variable, as I still have not fully fleshed out my audio preferences (but I'm getting there). Guess I don't have credibility... but I knew that

I would suggest that everyone reads the article, though not all may agree, and that it will be old news to most.

In response to the original question - I would trust neither, but audition the SR125 myself. I haven't heard it, hence, I have no opinion about it.

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by clarke68 Now, how about you return the favor and find a bad review in Stereophile (that alone is hard enough) that didn't make it on to the recommended components list. And you can't say "Bose 901s!", that's cheating.

Lots. Most recently, the Tetra 505LTD loudspeaker, reviewed in August 2005.

I'd be interested in seeing what class/category that NHT SuperTwo was in. Also keep in mind that other Stereophile reviewers findings on the same product are taken into consideration when they select their Recommended Components.

 

[Revliskciuq]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx I completely agree... but Headroom gives the reference points right there. You can see what they give 5 stars in the price point/use and what they give 3. It's actually more objective than most of our conversations on Head-Fi, because it's strictly a bang for buck rating system. It's not a true 0-5 out of all they sell, nor is it the same out of all headphones (Triports may alone shoot the SR125 to 5 stars), but it's pretty fair. I truly believe if they came out with a ranking system that said "Darkness of Color" someone would be upset if the K701 scored low. But it sounds so good!

Clearly it's not a "bang for the buck" scale if they gave their own Max Balanced a 5 out of 5, an amp even they describe with these words:

No one needs this amp; there’s just no excuse for it. Unless, of course, you can afford thoughts like, “I can hear the cellist breathing through his nose. He needs to clip his nose hairs.” Personally, we have a hard time thinking at all when we listen to this amp.

Maybe I'm off my rocker, but that doesn't sound like an amp that should get a 5 out of 5 value rating, so I'm lead to believe that HeadRoom takes things other than value into consideration.

 

[Steve999]

Thanks for the great link!

The best buy in the Grado line is the SR60, IMHO. If there's a dime's worth of difference between the SR60 and RS-1 I don't get it. In my mind, the SR60 is a good $200 headphone, the SR80 is a good $200 headphone, the SR125 is a good $200 heapdhone, the SR225 is a good $200 headphone, the SR325 is a good $200 headphone, the RS-2 is a good $200 headphone... you get the picture.

Of course, this is assuming that Grado manages to match the drivers correctly and put the thing together correctly, which of course they don't always do. They've got to have the worst quality control of any of the major headphone manufacturers. So, I'd go with headroom on this one.

I read stereophile at Borders over an iced tea for laughs. They're good laughs, big laughs. But I never pay for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by duchamp Here is an interesting article on audio journalism and includes an opinion on Stereophile magazine. http://www.high-endaudio.com/magaz.html

 

[clarke68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle Lots. Most recently, the Tetra 505LTD loudspeaker, reviewed in August 2005.

Keep looking! The 505LTD recieved a "class K" rating in the 2005 Recommended Components (published in April), and I wouldn't exactly call this a bad review:

Quote:

A concise summary of the Tetra 505LTDs is easy: they were a lot of fun to listen to. Their big, open soundstage, liveliness, and outstanding coherence might have been expected, but their surprisingly deep bass response was a pleasant shock. I've spent the last few years with huge, heavy behemoths: the Focal-JMlab Nova Utopia Be, the Calix Phoenix Grand Signature, the EgglestonWorks Andra II, and the Legacy Audio Focus 20/20 and Whisper. The Tetra 505s opened my eyes and ears to the fact that it's not only the Andre the Giant–sized speakers that can provide an enjoyable listening experience. The 505LTD does have limits—an 8" woofer can do only so much, even when packaged as cleverly as is the 505's—but the speaker's compromises were chosen sensibly, and it spread plenty of musical happiness around my house. As I write this on a Friday night, I'm sitting in my office, which is directly behind my listening room, the door between the two rooms wide open. Russell Malone's Heartstrings is spinning in the CD player, and I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. The Tetra has some genuine strong points, but in LTD dress it finds itself at a highly competitive price point where there are strong alternatives, including the Wilson Sophia. Careful auditioning is therefore recommended.

I'll bet you a Pepsi that the Tetra finds its way onto the 2006 list.


Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle I'd be interested in seeing what class/category that NHT SuperTwo was in. Also keep in mind that other Stereophile reviewers findings on the same product are taken into consideration when they select their Recommended Components.

I'm sure it was Class C or D, as the actual classes tend to have more to do with price range than anything else. I'll edit my post above when I find it. They do point out that all of the components on the list are recommended, regardless of class.

Don't get me wrong...I like Stereophile. I am getting a little bored with them, but they write about audio, and I like reading about audio...what's not to like? I just take the facts/opinions they publish about as seriously as the facts/opinions I find in People or Us.

 

[rsaavedra]

Quote:

Originally Posted by clarke68 They do point out that all of the components on the list are recommended, regardless of class.

Not for Class K. This is from Stereophile's October 2005 Issue, which has a recommended components list:

CLASS K
"Keep your eyes on this product." Class K is for components that we have not reviewed (or have not finished testing), but that we have reason to believe may be excellent performers. We are not actually recommending these components, only suggesting you give them a listen."


However, their actual recommendations, with their varying degrees of "youmustcheckthisout-ness" (and so I just invented a new English word

) should be quite similar in purpose to simply suggesting the reader to give the item a listen after all,

 

[clarke68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rsaavedra Not for Class K. This is from Stereophile's October 2005 Issue, which has a recommended components list

Oh yeah...forgot about the October recommended components. No Tetra 505 LTD...looks like I owe Beagle a Pepsi.

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by clarke68 Keep looking! The 505LTD recieved a "class K" rating in the 2005 Recommended Components (published in April), and I wouldn't exactly call this a bad review

Read John Atkinson's measurements and comments.

On the other hand, the Tetra's are actually very nice speakers. So my whole premise for commenting is actually moot.
Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve999 If there's a dime's worth of difference between the SR60 and RS-1 I don't get it.

Some people can't hear differences. But some people are deaf. Sad but true. Actually, it's not all sad. They get the best possible sound for themselves for peanuts.