Help me decide if I should resubscribe to Sterophile. Seriously.

[sqrl]

Was the beer made with the finest heritage organic barley grown on deep calcareous soils and fermented with glacial water filtered through carbon nanotubes?

 

[G|force]

I stopped subscribing to the print version in the 90's when they abandoned the digest-sized format that could be tucked into an inside jacket pocket.
That's not the primary reason I bailed, but coincides with my choice at the time.

 

[Mojo Warrior]

For the sake of the environment, NO.

Save a tree or release less CO2 into the atmosphere.

 

[DVDdoug]

Help me decide if I should resubscribe to Sterophile.

Flip a coin?

I try not to tell other people what to do... Sometimes I give advice but since you're a long-time subscriber you're more of an expert than me!

Stereophile was never "my thing" and MOST audio publications and websites are full of useless nonsense. (I used to subscribe to Stereo Review). As you know Stereophile does do measurements which are not useless.

Sometimes it's "fun" to keep-up on what's new. But, that's often a problem too. There could be an old product that's better than anything else and it gets ignored and forgotten unless the manufacturer brings-out a new version.

Will it just annoy me?

Years ago when my dad was alive he was complaining about Rush Limbaugh. I asked him, "Then why do you listen to him". He said, "To get mad."

 

[FrantzM]

There's no reason to be so mad at Stereophile that you histrionically attack one of the best things about it, John Atkinson's measurements. Everything that exists is "flawed." Ease up there, buddy.

Are these measurements more informative, "better" than @amirm or Erin's? However I bend or twould try, this is not the case... I could say the contrary and show the data to back this up.
I could posit that he, JA, has access to more High End Audio gear... That, is not necessarily a blessing

 

[Chester]

I still watch the occasional Darko video and browse some of the subjectivist forums from time to time. I don’t listen to any of the bullshit but I enjoy hifi as a hobby so like seeing new gear and what manufacturers are doing. This falls into the same category for me. If you’ll enjoy reading it, knowing what it is, then why not.

 

[Robin L]

Had a subscription in the 1990s, got copies for free in the early "oughts" when I worked at a Borders—we had to tear off the covers of the newstand copies for returns, throwing out the magazine proper. I took home copies, along with the historically expensive Gramophone and Sound on Sound, among other audio rags. After that I really didn't have much use for the magazine as it increasingly became an audio "lifestyle" magazine, beholden to the proposition of "if it costs more, it has to sound better" and other celebrations of audio bling. As an avowed cheapskate audiophile, a magazine such as this would clearly be useless. Back when I had a subscription, they had a regular column or two concerned with cheapskate audio.

 

[LTig]

No, this is not a troll. I subscribed to Sterophile for decades. I found it interesting and the reviews had some relevance to me, i.e., some of the gear was affordable for me. And I like the music reviews. And we didn't have DSP, hardly had digital at all in fact. Well, we all know what happened. Fast forward to more recently and it's turned into a joke IMO. Their whole editorial stances and subjectivism stuff has become kind of pathetic IMO, as has the gear they review. It's now really just a lifestyle magazine. I'm reminded of my recent (and accidental) visit to the "million dollar room" at a NYC HiFi salon. Who buys this stuff and WTF?

But then I got discount subscription mailer the other day. A 1 year subscription offer for the price of a beer! So I have 2 conflicting views. Will it just annoy me? Or for that kind of money is the ironic humor value going to be there? Cheers,

If you think the music reviews are worth the price of a beer go for it. And you can still read the measurements by JA if there is something interesting and affordable. Just ignore the rest.

 

[mhardy6647]

FWIW: I subscribed to Stereophile for years, on and off. My threshold was very simple. Whenever I got a subscription offer for less than $10 USD per year, I'd get it. They'd start sending re-subscribe notices at much higher rates... and I'd wait. Usually, a few months after the subbie lapsed, I'd get one for $8.99, or even $7.99... and I'd re-up.

Haven't seen it for less than $10 for a while, so no more paper subscription since those days.

 

[Vincent Kars]

Perhaps a name change might freshen things up, ‘Gulliblephile’ perhaps.

Reminds me of an old joke
Stereophile and The Absolute Sound are going to merge. The new magazine will be called The Absolute Pile.

 

[JayGilb]

Do you have one of these ?

 

[Bland_username42069]

It’s a land of make believe inside a hall of mirrors lost inside a smoke filled orb.

Art Dudley’s magical physics defying Ken Shindo setup did justify it all tho

 

[G|force]

Reminds me of an old joke
Stereophile and The Absolute Sound are going to merge. The new magazine will be called The Absolute Pile.

Pilephile

 

[BlackTalon]

Subscribed from the late '80s until a little over a year ago. Prices of recommended gear kept rising and rising, to where a Class A system (with cables, of course) was well into 6 figures. Made it feel like it wasn't even worth trying to assemble a good system anymore... Yet what I read contradicted what I heard at audio stores and during in-home trials. And even when the stores pushed the same narrative about a piece of gear or cable, it did not translate to what I heard. I thought the problem was me, but it turns out the industry -- with Stereophile willingly serving as the front man -- was the real issue. Turns out that Bryston amp kicks butt, even 28+ year later. And the Oppo player could best the kilobuck players and DACs they tried to convince me I needed.

For a couple years after regularly reading ASR I kept the Stereophile subscription. I developed a much better appreciation for Kal once I accepted the other reviewers were largely full of BS.. But it seemed more and more of a farce with each issue, and then (as others have stated) Jim Austin took it over the edge. So I did not renew, and I do not miss the subscription. I'm happy they have started reviewing some of the lower priced gear that is often discussed on ASR, but as long as they push cables in the 4 and 5 digits, and amps costing over $100k, I have no use for the magazine.

 

[sergeauckland]

I would say don't bother to renew, even for free. I had a subscription to HiFi News in the UK for some 30 years, but gave it up about 10 years ago when they went completely subjective and EVO car magazine style. HFN now only feature stuff at silly money as far as I can tell, and their measurements (at least they still have some) are pretty minimal.

S.

 

[Robin L]

I would say don't bother to renew, even for free. I had a subscription to HiFi News in the UK for some 30 years, but gave it up about 10 years ago when they went completely subjective and EVO car magazine style. HFN now only feature stuff at silly money as far as I can tell, and their measurements (at least they still have some) are pretty minimal.

S.

They seem to be the only mainstream publication that measures phono cartridges. A losing proposition, as they all have awful measurements.

 

[mns3dhm]

Try your local library - mine makes the digital version available at no charge. Stereophile eventually posts most of their content online sometime after publication so unless you absolutely have to have the physical media, I'd say no to a renewal.

 

[Buckchester]

There's no reason to be so mad at Stereophile that you histrionically attack one of the best things about it, John Atkinson's measurements. Everything that exists is "flawed." Ease up there, buddy.

Aarrrggghhhh. I’m just so damn mad!!

 

[kyuu]

There's no reason to be so mad at Stereophile that you histrionically attack one of the best things about it, John Atkinson's measurements. Everything that exists is "flawed." Ease up there, buddy.

Mr. Atkinson's measurements are indeed the best thing about Stereophile. However, they are now positively archaic compared to what we get from relative "amateurs" (with the meaning that they don't do this for a living) like Amir and Erin.

 

[RexrothPigeon]

Intertia and habit are powerful, I get it, but I can't imagine ever wanting to read an issue of Stereophile let alone pay for one