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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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In Reply to: Absolutely... posted by stehno on October 30, 2017 at 20:07:08:
> > being so accustomed to hearing small minute changes when others simply lack that same extensive training and experience < <Which I think is one reason the audio magazines have consistently gone down the wrong road for the last 20 years. Ever since they've gone monthly, they simply don't have enough qualified reviewers.
Back when JGH ran Stereophile by himself, he was capable of not only recommending "Class A" components confidently - "The Very Best Sound Attainable", but also "Class D" components confidently - "Offering Exceptional Sound Quality for the Money". Everything recommended was worth buying.
When something came along that was clearly superior to all of the existing "Class A" components, it would *displace* the others. They would only move down to "Class B" if they were significantly less expensive than the new "Class A".
Now there are so many unqualified reviewers (like Jim Austin) that wouldn't know good sound if it bit him in the ass - yet each is allowed to nominate candidates for "Recommended Components". No matter how well intended, they are going to recommend crap that doesn't deserve to be recommended - either because they haven't heard all of the truly good stuff out there, or that they are so inexperienced that they wouldn't recognize it if they heard it.
I absolutely refuse to believe that the PS Audio DS DAC sounds IDENTICAL to the Benchmark 3 (or 2 or 1) - period. It may to Jim on his system, but to the average joe on the street, a bloody iPhone is indistinguishable from a Pono Player. So should we start a magazine where random people are chosen to recommend things? Or should the recommendations be left to experts? Obviously there are debates over who is an expert, but that is why there are different magazines and different writers.
JA's idea of having all various "points of view" represented in Stereophile strikes me as intellectually lazy. When HP ran TAS, you couldn't review until he had spent time with you and preferably heard your system. He had a viewpoint, a goal, and a mission. (Which has now been degraded into "make as much money as possible".)
Currently TAS has a "Buyer's Guide" or some such nonsense, where they put "Best CD Player Between $5000 and $10,000" (for example). Well, if they were honest and there were a CD player for $4500 that kicked the snot out of everything under $15,000, they shouldn't list *anything* in that category. But of course not - each price range is filled with "outstanding bargains" within that range.
Why can't people just speak the truth any more? That's all we want.
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Follow Ups
- RE: Absolutely... - Charles Hansen 10/30/1720:34:27 10/30/17 (4)
- Same with TV... - mkuller 15:17:23 10/31/17 (0)
- RE: Absolutely... Why i still use a CD player - A.Wayne 11:14:53 10/31/17 (1)
- +1...(nt) - mkuller 15:19:16 10/31/17 (0)
- There's an old adage, Something left to itself will always get worse - never better. - stehno 20:59:17 10/30/17 (0)
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