Follow-up on my posting from a decade ago on "Truth, Lies and Fraud in the Audiophile World"

[JeffS7444]

While it never focused on the science of sound reproduction, I'd argue that The Absolute Sound began with with solid journalistic intents: Anonymous reviewers, identified only by their initials, they accepted no advertising money, and IIRC, components were to be anonymously acquired through the same sorts of channels available to TAS readers.

But anonymity could only last so long in the small fish pond which is the high end audio industry.

And there's the matter of obtaining increasingly costly products for review, which subscription fees could no longer cover.

At some point, a decision was made: TAS wasn't about journalism per se, but entertainment. Advertising was accepted, close relationships with manufacturers ensued, and extended loans of equipment became the norm. And having the industry's highest profit margins allowed cable manufacturers to afford the best, most expensive advertising space.

Today, the most valuable asset these audiophile magazines possess is their readership demographic: They have money, and they're eager to spend it.

 

[fpitas]

They have money, and they're eager to spend it.

"A fool and his money..."

 

[JeffS7444]

"A fool and his money..."

Monied fools can be the best kind.

 

[fpitas]

Monied fools can be the best kind.

I think Stereophile is one of the few magazines that came to grips with market realities without completely selling out. The subjective listening section of reviews keeps the woo alive, but there are actual measurements which the woo disciples can ignore.

 

[Head_Unit]

I think Stereophile is one of the few magazines that came to grips with market realities without completely selling out. The subjective listening section of reviews keeps the woo alive, but there are actual measurements which the woo disciples can ignore.

I have long LOVED Stereophile for continuing to measure, and also at least sometimes (jitter) trying to correlate measurement to listening.

I used to start corporate audio trainings by pointing out people wearing glasses, then asking "who wears contact lenses? I do!" and then asking "if everyone has different eyesight why on Earth do we assume everyone should be able to hear every little audio nuance?!?"

Few people are audio experts, so they have no idea that according to Physics a cable simply cannot* have a large effect on the signal. (It CAN have some effect, Stereophile measured differences in the actual signal at the speaker from different cables, however the differences were small. Audible or not, that's another debate). It's quite in the same way that with so many technology miracles, people could believe that COVID vaccines could have microchips inside and could track them...and be quite worried about that...when they were posting where they were and what they were doing on Instagram every 2 minutes ha ha.

And the fact that we don't know how to measure every aspect of sound conflates with and covers up the fact that we can certainly measure if a product makes any difference at all to the audio signal, to far better time and amplitude resolution than any possible human hearing can reach.


*OK aside from like induced hum or noise, and presuming the design is not defective.

 

[egellings]

I find this "first buy a home" idea 100% bizarro. Having discretionary spending money for entertainment and even "expensive" hobbies has been within reach for teenagers for 70+ years now

and has nothing to do with home ownership.

In many societies the mainstream have given up on the very idea of home ownership, something only for a minority of wealthy elite these days, nothing wrong with being a renter for life.

Even homeless people, houseboaters #vanlifers etc can spend solid money on audio gear, in fact in recent years more so than ever.

If you're homeless, where do you put the speakers?

 

[Mort]

I thought this was about his 10-year-old kid posting on the blog.

 

[wadude]

I think Stereophile is one of the few magazines that came to grips with market realities without completely selling out. The subjective listening section of reviews keeps the woo alive, but there are actual measurements which the woo disciples can ignore.

I haven’t looked but have read they’ve recently deleted the letter/comments section.

 

[Mart68]

I haven’t looked but have read they’ve recently deleted the letter/comments section.

That was ages ago now. In fairness, people were using it to issue death threats and they didn't have the budget to have full time moderation.

 

[JeffS7444]

If you're homeless, where do you put the speakers?

Homeless people in my area often have mobile devices, BT speakers, and can sometimes be found listening to their tunes in public spaces. And I must say that the quality of street-fi has improved dramatically over the years.

 

[john61ct]

Another answer - in your van.

You could have gear worth thousands and still be homeless.

I even know homeless people - genuinely poor, not by choice - that live on the water, and some have decent stereos!

All depends on your priorities, not nit-picking about definitions.

 

[Redacted]

We live in a post-truth age in so many ways. Hifi is the least of our worries.

 

[JeffS7444]

We live in a post-truth age in so many ways. Hifi is the least of our worries.

Distortion levels are up and signal-to-noise ratios are down, so now more than ever, we need accuracy and fidelity!

 

[john61ct]

wut.

Only if you audio budget is at single meal out levels