Michael Fremer Leaving Stereophile?

[Somafunk]

Former UK hi-fi Journalist Ian Rankin (now a novelist, which speaks volumes ho ho) once confessed to writing some of his reviews without ever taking the kit out of the box.

He’s pretty active on Twitter regarding his record purchases and will happily talk to anyone regarding music, very sound bloke.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1538874125103550465

Excellent taste in music as well

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1538169100387729409

 

[novice]

...the worst kind of audiophile.

At one point nearly all editorial staff for any "audiophile" rag, 80s thru 00s...

 

[syn08]

Play it on vinyl so you get even more noise.

Ask the DJ at a wedding party

 

[Sal1950]

Received this months Stereophile (Aug) a few days back. Mikeys Analog Corner was in residence as usual and I could find no mention
of his departure anywhere else? I should be getting this months TAS shortly, we'll see if there's any crowing in there then?
Those who know me are aware I have no use for vinyl and I question myself as to why I continue to subscribe to both these
mag's, old habits die hard I guess. I have just under 2 years left at both and will seriously consider not renewing at that time since
all either cover any more are 2ch vinyl recordings, blah.

 

[BlackTalon]

Stereophile columns are written a bit in advance. And the magazine is laid out and printed a bit in advance. I suspect it will show up in the next month.

 

[MattHooper]

Received this months Stereophile (Aug) a few days back. Mikeys Analog Corner was in residence as usual and I could find no mention
of his departure anywhere else? I should be getting this months TAS shortly, we'll see if there's any crowing in there then?
Those who know me are aware I have no use for vinyl and I question myself as to why I continue to subscribe to both these
mag's, old habits die hard I guess.

I haven't subscribed to either mag (or any audio mag) in ages!

How dare you support subjectivist rags!

 

[krabapple]

(JA) I’ve seen him interviewed. Never met him. Can’t help thinking he set the stage for a site like this to measure gear in an objective way. He rarely offered opinion but he had a few, “not sure why they liked this so much but here’s how it measures…” in his comments. He seems like a great guy and is welcome in my house until he tells me my gear sucks after a couple scotch whiskys

JA certainly didn't 'set the stage' for this site when he repeatedly denigrated the value of blind tests.

Nice guy Art Dudley (RIP)? I mostly remember that he was consistently a smug jerk about 'objectivists'.

Are we still speaking of kooks and hacks who've written for Stereophile? Then how can we not have mentioned Jason Serinus in the former category, and Robert Harley in the latter?

I have no patience for 'hi end' mags and their mastheads except for Kal Rubinson.

 

[krabapple]

As I know Sal would (or did?) post, MCh offerings over the course of the last half a dozen years or so in the prog genre are at the mountain top. Heck, even the MCh reissue of Crimson's ITCOTCK, originally released in 1969, is far, far superior to most "audiophile" rock.

Which one? There's been two.

 

[krabapple]

That this thread has slowly morphed into a discussion about the music of Supertramp says everything regarding the original topic...

I'd rather read about what a shit Fremer is.

 

[Robin L]

. . . Are we still speaking of kooks and hacks who've written for Stereophile? Then how can we not have mentioned Jason Serinus in the former category . . .

. . . albeit a very sweet kook, once you get to know him.

 

[MattHooper]

Nice guy Art Dudley (RIP)? I mostly remember that he was consistently a smug jerk about 'objectivists'.

Agreed. I loved his writing in general, but yeah.. (He also took pot shots at other audiophiles, e.g. those who cared a lot about imaging etc).

 

[ta240]

He’s pretty active on Twitter regarding his record purchases and will happily talk to anyone regarding music, very sound bloke.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1538874125103550465

Excellent taste in music as well

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1538169100387729409

If Mart68 is correct that he wrote some reviews without even unboxing the items I'm not sure that makes him a sound bloke.

 

[DMill]

JA certainly didn't 'set the stage' for this site when he repeatedly denigrated the value of blind tests.

Are you saying you prefer blind testing to measured results? The only problem I ever had with JA was he usually tried to find the bright spots rather than just come out and say this thing measures like sh*t.

Nice guy Art Dudley (RIP)? I mostly remember that he was consistently a smug jerk about 'objectivists'.

Did you know him? I liked the way he wrote. Sure he got a bit poetic at times, as they all did back then. But I appreciated he didn’t use it as a crutch in his writing. You gotta remember that these guys had to fill a couple pages with words… that’s their job. With regard to objectivists he’s certainly entitled to that opinion. I personally, like you, don’t 100% agree. I’m not even sure that was his stance, I never met him. But the guy was a fun read.

 

[Sal1950]

As I know Sal would (or did?) post, MCh offerings over the course of the last half a dozen years or so in the prog genre are at the mountain top. Heck, even the MCh reissue of Crimson's ITCOTCK, originally released in 1969, is far, far superior to most "audiophile" rock.

Which one? There's been two.

Either. The mix Steven Wilson did for the 40th Anniversary 24/48 DVD is excellent, a real improvement over the 1969 sound.
The one he remastered for the 50th 24/96 BD is just a taste better with inner detail, etc. He wrote he appreciated the opportunity to apply everything he's learned about multich mixing over the last decade.
If your a real KC fan you need both, otherwise the BD is the one to get. An awesome Wilson 2ch mix and a bunch more is included.

 

[Newman]

@DMill I think @krabapple was talking about JA, not himself. Pretty obvious really.

And what he said about JA is evidenced by the fact that he has been on a longstanding campaign to actively white-ant blind tests. He even has a pathetically illogical personal anecdote about how blind tests that he underwent led him on the wrong path and to audio dissatisfaction. He has trotted this tale out on Stereophile and in multiple conferences and workshops where he has been privileged to hold the stage. All very well-meaning, just based on ignorance and misunderstanding of reality.

 

[DMill]

@DMill I think @krabapple was talking about JA, not himself. Pretty obvious really.

And what he said about JA is evidenced by the fact that he has been on a longstanding campaign to actively white-ant blind tests. He even has a pathetically illogical personal anecdote about how blind tests that he underwent led him on the wrong path and to audio dissatisfaction. He has trotted this tale out on Stereophile and in multiple conferences and workshops where he has been privileged to hold the stage. All very well-meaning, just based on ignorance and misunderstanding of reality.

I get he is talking about JA. Are you saying blind testing is a good way to evaluate over measured study?

 

[Sal1950]

He has trotted this tale out on Stereophile and in multiple conferences and workshops where he has been privileged to hold the stage. All very well-meaning, just based on ignorance and misunderstanding of reality.

Sorry partner but I have to take exception with your conclusion here.
JA is well too intelligent and educated a man to have made this erroneous position by accident.
Strictly in IMHO, he purposely tells these stories to support the con being perpetrated on the audiophool community for the financial betterment of all involved. His continued position as Technical Editor helps to give some objective credence to his anti-blind rants, I mean "he must know what he's talking about) right? NOT
YMMV

Are you saying blind testing is a good way to evaluate over measured study?

Over measured study, no. If done properly it can be done along with measurement since the conclusions should be repeatable and scientifically accurate.
Like when the subjective audiophile makes the claim that he can hear things that we have not yet learned how to measure. A slightly possible position that could be proved correct or in error with a tightly bias controlled DBT. Although this claim has been repeated maybe millions of time now, AFAIK a test like this has never been properly done with the conclusions supporting their claims.
That's why JA and all the others in the subjective clan make the unsupported claim that DBT's are worthless, even though they have proven their worth in every other scientific endeavor.

 

[DMill]

Strictly in IMHO, he purposely tells these stories to support the con being perpetrated on the audiophool community for the financial betterment of all involved. His

I agree that ALL reviewers at Stereophile probably saw where their bread was buttered. Magazines that depend on ad revenue are just inherently bad at objective reviews by design.

AFAIK a test like this has never been properly done with the conclusions supporting their claims

Has there been double blind test done to support “our” claims? And by our you mean objective right? I suppose we have a Harman curve that has been studied. Not even sure that qualifies as a double blind test. Just saying.

 

[Newman]

Sorry partner but I have to take exception with your conclusion here.
JA is well too intelligent and educated a man to have made this erroneous position by accident.
Strictly in IMHO, he purposely tells these stories to support the con being perpetrated on the audiophool community for the financial betterment of all involved. His continued position as Technical Editor helps to give some objective credence to his anti-blind rants, I mean "he must know what he's talking about" right? NOT
YMMV

Yeah that would be really sad. I tend to give the subjective reviewer group a bit of slack (if calling them inexcusably ignorant and uncomprehending as professionals in the field is, indeed, too much slack ), because having a lot of technical audio knowledge doesn't mean they often have any real grasp of human perception mechanisms...and anyone lacking such grasp is always tempted to think, "I can't possibly be imagining this, it has to be in the sound waves", and "blind testing is for cables and stuff that should sound identical".

But for sure, you could be right...and I would be sad.

cheers

 

[Sal1950]

How dare you support subjectivist rags!

As the Playboy subscribers used to say, I read it for the articles. LOL
Besides my "old habits" cop-out I do enjoy
Stereophiles John Atkinson's measurements along with his creative ways of demeaning his own work in deference to the subjective review.
And the music reviews although they have been getting a little thin lately.
As for TAS, the only things of value there have been the interviews with various stars of the performing world and mixing engineers.
Plus a fairly good coverage of new album releases, much larger than Stereophile.