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Re: not really fair to Stereophile, Andy

Well, I read your post and pretty much agree with just about everything you say, except its title :-).

Let me try to clarify my point. When reading TAS, I get the impression that I'm just reading a bunch of stuff by fellow audiophiles. I'm an objectivist, and their reviews consist only of subjective impressions, with no measurements. This doesn't bother me a bit, in fact I find it enjoyable. Stereophile puts lots of great measured data in their reviews, and as you mention, they try to correlate this with subjective impressions. I'm not suggesting for a moment that they stop doing this!

What bugs me about Stereophile is their degree of engagement in the so-called "great debate". As quick examples, I'll pick the Atkinson/Krueger debate, JA's editorial referring to DBTs as a "parlor trick", and the article that prompted this thread. This is a divisive topic, and for me as an objectivist, their stance on this issue more than offsets (in a negative way) the inclusion of comprehensive measurements in their reviews.

As another example, contrast the posts of people from Stereophile and TAS in this forum. Sue Kraft mostly just gets involved with banter among fellow inmates. The posters from Stereophile seem more concerned about winning arguments. In a sense, the two magazines themselves are like extensions of this. The only thing I'm really advocating here is that Stereophile simply disengage from the "great debate". IOW, no more "parlor trick" editorials, and to be fair, no more "Chips For Chumps" articles either (though I did enjoy that one :-)). With that kind of approach, they can concentrate on just being a publication for all kinds of audiophiles, and not end up in the middle of arguments or long-winded justification of their position.


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