Stereophile 2023 recommended gear list

[BogdanR]

I’m always amazed at the amount of vitriol levelled at publications such as Stereophile. If these people and their reviews are not worth anything, why would they be worth the amount of time spent bashing them? Especially in a forum in which none of the people buying $300k turntables will ever participate. There are some significantly better ways to spend this time, which is the most expensive resource in the Universe, as all of us have a very limited supply of it until we expire.

 

[Sal1950]

I’m always amazed at the amount of vitriol levelled at publications such as Stereophile. If these people and their reviews are not worth anything, why would they be worth the amount of time spent bashing them? Especially in a forum in which none of the people buying $300k turntables will ever participate. There are some significantly better ways to spend this time, which is the most expensive resource in the Universe, as all of us have a very limited supply of it until we expire.

If they didn't spew so much BS and incorrect information to the public, there'd be no need to try and inform them of the truths in audio. $10,000 power cords? "MF later wrote, when comparing the Dragon AC cables with another brand that what he heard "was another leapfrog forward producing more transparency (in the sense of the ability to see into the sonic space), more air, and more rhythmic authority. ... Nothing else I've tried ... matches the Dragon AC cord's transparency, quiet, and taut musical grip." (Vol.41 No.5, Vol.45 No.9 WWW)"

Do you believe we should let crap reporting like this stand? Only one of way too many piles of BS too numerous to list.

 

[Mojo Warrior]

I’m always amazed at the amount of vitriol levelled at publications such as Stereophile. If these people and their reviews are not worth anything, why would they be worth the amount of time spent bashing them? Especially in a forum in which none of the people buying $300k turntables will ever participate. There are some significantly better ways to spend this time, which is the most expensive resource in the Universe, as all of us have a very limited supply of it until we expire.

I occasionally read some of their articles back in the 1980s until it became painfully obvious that some of the reviewers were scaminng their audience. There was no editorial restraint. TAS and Stereophile were never as useful or professional as Stereo Review, Audio, High Fidelity, The Sensible Sound, etc. Now, I have better ways to spend my precious time and money.

 

[Sal1950]

I occasionally read some of their articles back in the 1980s until it became painfully obvious that some of the reviewers were scaminng their audience. There was no editorial restraint. TAS and Stereophile were never as useful or professional as Stereo Review, Audio, High Fidelity, The Sensible Sound, etc. Now, I have better ways to spend my precious time and money.

Although I mostly agree with you, the years when J. Gordon Holt were at the helm were much different than today.
This is just an exert but read the full article for a complete view.
Gordon (left-fired?) when JA refused to give multich sound more coverage in the magazine.
Sadly Kal Rubinson has also mostly been silenced on the subject there too.

"Do you see any signs of future vitality in high-end audio?
John Atkinson"

"Vitality? Don't make me laugh. Audio as a hobby is dying, largely by its own hand. As far as the real world is concerned, high-end audio lost its credibility during the 1980s, when it flatly refused to submit to the kind of basic honesty controls (double-blind testing, for example) that had legitimized every other serious scientific endeavor since Pascal. [This refusal] is a source of endless derisive amusement among rational people and of perpetual embarrassment for me, because I am associated by so many people with the mess my disciples made of spreading my gospel. For the record: I never, ever claimed that measurements don't matter. What I said (and very often, at that) was, they don't always tell the whole story. Not quite the same thing."
J. Gordon Holt."

45 Years of Stereophile

It was 45 years ago this month that the first issue of Stereophile, just 20 pages in length, went in the mail. It had been founded by one J. Gordon Holt. Gordon had been technical editor of High Fidelity magazine in the 1950s, and was tired of being asked to pander to the demands of advertisers.

www.stereophile.com

 

[fpitas]

When will the subjective community wake up? Seriously?

I deeply suspect a lot of them are trying to "one up" each other. In which case there is no awakening possible.

 

[Sal1950]

I deeply suspect a lot of them are trying to "one up" each other. In which case there is no awakening possible.

Specially when advertising dollars are part of the equation.
I do believe there is hope and some small light at the end of the tunnel.
Outlets such as ASR, Audioholics, Archimago's, and a few others have brought a bit
of sanity to a situation that seemed almost hopeless less than ten years ago.
Spread the Objective gospel whenever possible.

 

[CapMan]

Any publication that is funded by advertising revenue from manufacturers whose products may be the subject of review can surely never be truly independent. That’s just a consequence of capitalism and commercial practice surely?

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

There's an awful lot of time, consideration and work that's gone into their recommended lists.

People can sit back in their basemement, peering at their computer screen, poking fun and jeering at Stereophile, but those guys have been properly reviewing HiFi for many decades. Many of you were not even born when JA started using the first Audio Precision System One in his reviews.

They've successfully balanced extensive technical reviewing and hands on operation, along with subjective comments, and I hope they continue to do so for years to come.

The outrage on ASR is surprising (actually maybe it isn’t). They’ve been publishing this list for years - decades perhaps - live and let live I say.

 

[Purité Audio]

The longevity of the lie makes it more palatable?
Keith

 

[restorer-john]

There's far too much group tribalism and myopic black and white attitudes on ASR for my liking.

When people start attacking the publications and particularly the people who have arguably kept the industry alive when 2 channel high fidelity was not just on life support- it had been read its last rites, is astoundingly poor form.

 

[Bleib]

There's far too much group tribalism and myopic black and white attitudes on ASR for my liking.

When people start attacking the publications and particularly the people who have arguably kept the industry alive when 2 channel high fidelity was not just on life support- it had been read its last rites, is astoundingly poor form.

Yeah, certainly they have helped, but certainly they could do a better job as well. I wouldn't personally want to participate in selling crap to people which is what Stereophile and just about any Hifi magazine does

 

[Sal1950]

There's far too much group tribalism and myopic black and white attitudes on ASR for my liking.

When people start attacking the publications and particularly the people who have arguably kept the industry alive when 2 channel high fidelity was not just on life support- it had been read its last rites, is astoundingly poor form.

What would you have us do John, ignore the advertising supported lies that make up
a large majority of information in their publications?

 

[teched58]

I don't mind the clearly knowledgeable people at Stereophile, who make an effort to provide useful information while not going batspit crazy with the subjective nonsense. For example, Atkinson and Kal deliver consistent value.

What really irks me are the know-nothings who have zero understanding of electronics, don't know that they don't know anything, and appear to be proud of it. JVS is at the tippy top of this list. He is egregiously unknowledgeable and, even worse, uneducable. (However, he does know his classical music; I'm referring again to electronics.)

Fremer would qualify, too (if he were still there). But I give him an exception since he's so clearly a personality delivering entertainment value. (He's like the Howard Stern of the audiophile world.) I don't think anyone really takes his paeans to $300k turntables too seriously. Also, Fremer is an engaging writer, most especially when he's writing about records, rock stars and WBCN (or Tron).

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Sadly Kal Rubinson has also mostly been silenced on the subject there too.

That is simply not true. I decided to terminate my mch column, Music in the Round, just a few years after I retired from my day job, because I did not want the burden of scheduling/planning any more. The newly-installed editor was disappointed in my decision but it was my decision.

 

[restorer-john]

What would you have us do John, ignore the advertising supported lies that make up
a large majority of information in their publications?

There's nothing inherently different here. The 'advertising' is the wildly disproportionate representation of cheap Chinese, failure riddled brand/s I won't mention. Amir gets literally tons of free gear from certain companies to review. No interests are declared. No lists of loans/donations or any of the back and forth in the background when issues occur are disclosed.

It's the complete opposite of transparency. People buy based on those reviews and are left in the cold by the company when their gear doesn't live up to expectations and they lose real money. Accountability is non existent. And the pattern is : rinse and repeat.

Hardly a beacon of truth and independence is it?

 

[Philbo King]

They have a big section dedicated to the differences in sound between the various classes of amplifiers:

Class A Best attainable sound for a component of its kind, almost without practical considerations; "the least musical compromise." A Class A system is one for which you don't have to make a leap of faith to believe that you're hearing the real thing. When SACD and hi-rez files became available, we introduced a new Class, A+, for the best performance in those digital categories. Class A now represents the best that can be obtained from the conventional 16/44.1 CD medium. We also created Class A+ categories for turntables and phono preamps, to recognize the achievements of the Continuum Caliburn and Boulder 2008, respectively.

Class B The next best thing to the very best sound reproduction; Class B components generally cost less than those in Class A, but most Class B components are still quite expensive.

Class C Somewhat lower-fi sound, but far more musically natural than average home-component high fidelity; products in this class are of high quality but still affordable.

Class D Satisfying musical sound, but these components are either of significantly lower fidelity than the best available, or exhibit major compromises in performance—limited dynamic range, for example. Bear in mind that appearance in Class D still means that we recommend this product—it's possible to put together a musically satisfying system exclusively from Class D components.

Kind of ridiculous to use Class A,B,C,D. Class in an amp commonly refers to the bias point or technology (e.g., PWM for class D). But, hey, their ball, their bat, their rules...

 

[Axo1989]

There's nothing inherently different here. The 'advertising' is the wildly disproportionate representation of cheap Chinese, failure riddled brand/s I won't mention. Amir gets literally tons of free gear from certain companies to review. No interests are declared. No lists of loans/donations or any of the back and forth in the background when issues occur are disclosed.

It's the complete opposite of transparency. People buy based on those reviews and are left in the cold by the company when their gear doesn't live up to expectations and they lose real money. Accountability is non existent. And the pattern is : rinse and repeat.

Hardly a beacon of truth and independence is it?

I know this has been discussed in other threads (and rejected) but it seems so straightforward to declare interest (and specify eg loan/gift per item reviewed) that I really can't see good reason not to do this.

 

[Axo1989]

That is simply not true. I decided to terminate my mch column, Music in the Round, just a few years after I retired from my day job, because I did not want the burden of scheduling/planning any more. The newly-installed editor was disappointed in my decision but it was my decision.

Good to know. I did enjoy that informative column a good deal, fwiw.

I also enjoy the whistling sound of a conspiracy theory that won't fly falling from the sky.

 

[Bogda89]

I always wonder who buys all this overpriced stuff.

I can understand big brands like Wilson or magico, where it's not about sound anymore but prestige.

Obviously this products don't sell in big numbers, but even if they sell half a dozen, I don't understand who is willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on some no name startup with no sales or history

 

[Steven Holt]

No interests are declared. No lists of loans/donations or any of the back and forth in the background when issues occur are disclosed.

John, I'm dismayed by your post. For the record, are you saying that Amir is on the take?