Stereophile Recommended Components 2024

[JiiPee]

Do you want to guess what % of sport and suspersportcars are driven aggressively on track by the owners? In many cases... driven at all? :-D They serve the purpose of jewelry, which is basically identical to audiophile esoterica. *Every* human hobby is about embracing passion and abandoning rationality.

That does not matter. The important difference between honesty and dishonesty remains.

 

[pablolie]

That does not matter. The important difference between honesty and dishonesty remains.

I think you don't understand the fact that some audiences *enjoy* that narrative. Just because it doesn't responate with you personally doesn't mean there isn't an audience that expects it. Just like "The Ultimate Driving Machine" could easily be interpreted as a lie - guess what, those buyers and most of us don't care. I know what I want and why, and act accordingly, and could not care less what others prefer. The audio hobby -like any other- is irrational to begin with. Those who claim audio is rational if one watches the $-vs-spec balance ignore that very fundamental fact., and when one lives in a glass house...

 

[pablolie]

Maybe this post should be moved to the "Fiction" section?
I thought this was Audio Science?

You don't have a say in that. Just because you'd like to dictate your opinions onto others doesn't mean you have either the ability or power of persuasion to do so. Deal with it. :-D

Just because I defend those people's right to make different buying choices based on their very own preferences does in no way mean I share those preferences btw.

But that's just the difference between being open- vs close-minded. And we know there's a lot of the latter going on in the world these days.

 

[JiiPee]

I think you don't understand te fact that some audiences *enjoy* that narrative. Just because it doesn't responate with you personally doesn't mean there isn't an audience that expects it. Just like "The Ultimate Driving Machine" could easily be interpreted as a lie - guess what, those buyers and most of us don't care. I know what I want and why, and act accordingly, and could not care less what others prefer. The audio hobby -like any other- is irrational to begin with. Those who claim audio is rational if one watches the $-vs-spec balance ignore that very fundamental fact., and when one lives in a glass house...

Marketing hype is one thing and an outright lie is something else. If You really don't care about/understand the importance of honesty, there is no point for me to continue this debate. I'm sick and tired of repeating myself on something I thought would have been quite obvious to everyone. I'm done with this thread.

 

[pablolie]

Marketing hype is one thing and an outright lie is something else. If You really don't care about/understand the importance of honesty, there is no point for me to continue this debate. I'm sick and tired of repeating myself on something I thought would have been quite obvious to everyone. I'm done with this thread.

You are misapplying the concept of honesty here, imho. Just because you and I are largely fact driven in an audio purchasing decision doesn't mean there aren't buyers that -on their own, not because they are stupid little lambs utterly misguided by some sleazy sales person- have different preferences. They want to splurge on something special, and performance is a second consideration or maybe not a consideration at all. And it can be explained scientifically - it's called psychology, not "audio science"... which by the way is not just about waves, there's stuff called psychoacoustics, meaning that a lot of the obsession with that last 0.5dB of SINAD in ASR may be just as silly as buying a $80k D'Agostino amp because someone likes the gold on it. And btw, the very father of market economy -Adam Smith- establsihed that pricing a good is largely an exercise in "perceived value", not just a sum of the cost of components.

Nobody forces anyone to spend on $1M music system. The whole discussion about those buyers being poor, innocent, misguided victims is pretty silly.

 

[Mikig]

in my opinion you forget about the joy and enthusiasm that comes when you want to transmit a passion, you are in love with your job that becomes life/passion and you are good speakers…..

about the “recommended”: I think that 95% of us grew up with SP, then you meet new inspirations in life, you learn notions and you change your way of doing things. It is a very normal training process for those who want to grow and seek objective and replicable feedback.
But, raise your hand here if in the last 30 years you have not dreamed of a class "A" component, if you have not played at least once with cables or with "curative" snake oil and if you have not hoped with the umpteenth change of devices to discover musical nirvana....

 

[Mikig]

That does not matter. The important difference between honesty and dishonesty remains.

I'm sorry, don't take it personally, but are you a court of law to say this?

 

[MattHooper]

Darko hates ASR.

Darko has a biased distaste for ASR it seems, and the reverse can be true as well IMO.

 

[pablolie]

I didn't have a chance to read the recommended components in the latest Stereophile issue (which I have been a subscriber for, for many years, I openly admit), but I am going through it, and there are no major surprises there. I know the ASR crowd (which I consider myself a part of, I have been a good supporter for several years now) will always be critical (as a whole) of the inclusion of audio esoterica at price levels that can be 1,000x the cost of a brilliantly measuring Topping power amp. But there are some examples in there of Stereophile highlighting that there's class leading performance to be found at much lower price points, like:

The Benchmark DAC3 being included in the A+ list for digital processors, along with many 5 figure devices (many above $40k).There are several other devices under $5k included. Granted, nothing from Toppings etc of the world there. There's also a $499 Cambridge there as an A-class device.

Or the Benchmark LA4 being listed in the same A+ class than the $150k D'Agostino Relentless as a preamp, and many other 5 figure preamps. The Shiit Freya at $849 also right there.

On the power amp front, the Benchmark AHB2 continues strong in the reference class, right along with 6-figure esoterica competition. So does the NAD C298, too.

I shall not comment on the integrated amps, because I hate the current trend to burden them with phono inputs, apologies to the ASR resident vinyl stalwarts that are still hanging around...

The "Restricted LF" speakers list now is full of <$3k speakers, along with the KEF LS50 (which has been there for over 10 years now) and Genelec (an ASR fav) along with several others. Found it interesting the LS60 is included in the "LF restricted list" despite it integrating subs. In any case, many 5-figure speakers in that category trying to justify their existence...

To me this kinda shows the Stereophile list does reflect -as it has for years- a shift. You can find many products that don't break the bank and are considered reference. And many of them look great design-wise to boot.

I am not one to take these lists too seriously, but also think the claims of the list being a showcase for consumers being "misled" and "lied to" is a bit one-sided... halfway discerning readers can easily find products that match -or beat- esoterica performance in there at reasonable cost. They may not always have the begging-for-visual-attention design edge, but they are there.

 

[Mikig]

I didn't have a chance to read the recommended components in the latest Stereophile issue (which I have been a subscriber for, for many years, I openly admit), but I am going through it, and there are no major surprises there. I know the ASR crowd (which I consider myself a part of, I have been a good supporter for several years now) will always be critical (as a whole) of the incusion of audio esoterica at price levels that can be 1,000x the cost of a brilliantly measuring Topping power amp. But there are some examples in there of Stereophile highlighting that there's class leading performance to be found at much lower price points, like:

The Benchmark DAC3 being included in the A+ list for digital processors, along with many 5 figure devices (amny above $40k).There are several other devices under $5k included. Granted, nothing from Toppings etc of the world there. There's also a $499 Cambridge there as an A-class device.

Or the Benchmark LA4 being listed in the same A+ class than the $150k D'Agostino Relentless as a preamp, and many other 5 figure preamps. The Shiit Freya at $849 also right there.

On the power amp front, the Benchmark AHB2 continues strong in the reference class, right along with 6-figure esoterica competition. So does the NAD C298, too.

I shall not comment on the integrated amps, because I hate the current trend to burden them with phono inputs, apologies to the ASR resident vinyl stalwarts that are still hanging around...

The "Restricted LF" speakers list now is full of <$3k speakers, along with the KEF LS50 (which has been there for over 10 years now) and Genelec (an ASR fav) along with several others. Found it interesting the LS60 is included in the "LF restricted list" despite it integrating subs. In any case, many 5-figure speakers in that category trying to justify their existence...

To me this kinda shows the Stereophile list does reflect -as it has for years- a shift. You can find many products that don't break the bank and are considered reference. And many of them look great design-wise to boot.

I am not one to take these lists too seriously, but also think the claims of the list being a showcase for consumers being "misled" and "lied to" is a bit one-sided... halfway discerning readers can easily find products that match -or beat- esoterica performance in there at reasonable cost. They may not always have the begging-for-visual-attention design edge, but they are there.

I agree! I add the Topping Pre90: I knew it on the Stereophile “recommended” list. I don’t know if it still is but it was in class “A” for a long time.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Found it interesting the LS60 is included in the "LF restricted list" despite it integrating subs.

It may be capable of "integrating subs" but the subs are not included.

I add the Topping Pre90: I knew it on the Stereophile “recommended” list. I don’t know if it still is but it was in class “A” for a long time.

Still is.

 

[MattHooper]

You are misapplying the concept of honesty here, imho. Just because you and I are largely fact driven in an audio purchasing decision doesn't mean there aren't buyers that -on their own, not because they are stupid little lambs utterly misguided by some sleazy sales person- have different preferences.

Indeed.

if you look through, for instance, one of Steve Guttenberg’s Viewer Systems videos, you see a wide variety of systems, very little of it on the “ASR-approved” list.

Am I to feel sorry for these poor, duped audiophiles who have not been correctly guided to the right gear via ASR?

Nah. I see a whole bunch of folks “livin’ their best life” with gear they clearly enjoy and have picked out carefully. I would bet that on the whole they are at least as satisfied and happy with their systems as ASR members.

Further, I see quite a bit of “ charm” in the equipment shown in those videos. By that I mean, I get a sense of equipment carefully selected on both aesthetic and conceptual grounds, even thematic grounds like “ old-school gear.” It’s not all just nondescript black boxes. so I really enjoy those videos.

 

[Mikig]

Still is.

I couldn't read. I don't know why, even reloading the page of SP several times, my reading stops at the turntables section... it must be a sign that I have to get back to it...

 

[A Surfer]

No. You can take a high performance sports car to a race track and enjoy the use of superior performance there. Wherever You take Your expensive audiophool equipment, it still does not perform the way a snake oil salesman claimed it would.

How realistic do you think that is? Of the clearly performance oriented cars where people pay a substantial premium for advanced engines, suspension and transmissions what percentage have access to and use race tracks? I'll bet it is less than one percent, well less. So in other words, essentially zero.

 

[JiiPee]

How realistic do you think that is? Of the clearly performance oriented cars where people pay a substantial premium for advanced engines, suspension and transmissions what percentage have access to and use race tracks? I'll bet it is less than one percent, well less. So in other words, essentially zero.

Your point is 100% irrelevant. I have tried to explain it to You, but I can not understand it for You.

 

[pablolie]

Your point is 100% irrelevant. I have tried to explain it to You, but I can not understand it for You.

We are not far apart ... but hope you realize if several people object to the universal validity of your point, it simply may not be as universally valid as it seems to you.

 

[NTK]

How realistic do you think that is? Of the clearly performance oriented cars where people pay a substantial premium for advanced engines, suspension and transmissions what percentage have access to and use race tracks? I'll bet it is less than one percent, well less. So in other words, essentially zero.

It is more common than you think. For example, do a search for HPDE (high performance driving events) near your location if you are in the US (and if you are a car enthusiast interested in performance driving).

 

[Mart68]

Indeed.

if you look through, for instance, one of Steve Guttenberg’s Viewer Systems videos, you see a wide variety of systems, very little of it on the “ASR-approved” list.

Am I to feel sorry for these poor, duped audiophiles who have not been correctly guided to the right gear via ASR?

This is a bit of a strawman. Lots of people here including me don't have 'ASR approved' systems, but then there isn't actually any such thing, at least not 'officially'.

The argument is against the claims of superior sound quality offered by more expensive equipment touted by Stereophile et al. And the promotion of nonsense. There's a set of $25K interconnects on the recommended list.

I don't think there is any question that the magazine is complicit in duping people into thinking this stuff is worth spending their money on.

I only know a handful of enthusiasts with effectively unlimited budgets. The rest have families, mortgages, car loans.

They really need to be informed as to the best value for money approach. But many spend their limited budget on pointless trinkets in the genuine belief that they will be getting 'improvements.' And that is directly influenced by the source of such nonsense, which is mags like Stereophile. It's not a victimless crime.

 

[VientoB]

View attachment 394765

Holy crap. Basically $10k on 2m of silver cable. "Perfect surface" is just marketing nonsense.

 

[VientoB]

Here we go: The annual Stereophile recommended components chum, tossed into the ASR shark tank.

As usual, there will be plenty of overpriced stuff to lambaste.

I like to keep in mind that Stereophile has a different approach to audio gear.

ASR takes a single criteria based approach on which to rate gear essentially “ good or bad.” (as in: here is a suite of measurements that would indicate best practises. To the degree gear deviates from this it is a bad design)

Stereophile takes the view that there are legitimate different approaches to designing equipment and different sonic profiles, and they don’t rate them “ good or bad” but rather to tell you how they sound. And then the consumer can decide whether that sounds interesting or not to pursue.

Of course, these annual recommended components do attempt a rating of one sort, but their approach is going to mean that, for instance, speakers that would be dismissed on ASR can be rated highly in Stereophile.

There’s obvious liabilities in Stereophile’s approach that everyone here recognizes.

But I’m glad both approaches exist as I can get something out of each.

That's fine if you enjoy reading fairy stories, I guess.