What Hi-Fi? 2023 Awards are... 72% British.

[DavidEdwinAston]

For many years, What Hi-Fi has been pushing something called "UK Sound". I remember reading a review of the Pioneer A-400, they said that although it was a Japanese company, the product was engineered for "UK Sound".

So, what is "UK Sound"? I can accept that certain speaker designs are more suitable for the small rooms typical of homes in the UK. I can also accept that a certain target curve might be preferred by UK people. I haven't seen any proof of it, but it may be possible. After all, some British speakers were designed with the "BBC dip" - perhaps that is "UK Sound"?

In the end, I decided that "UK Sound" is a marketing gimmick promulgated by What Hi-Fi to increase sales of UK products.

I think that for fifty years I have enjoyed the BBC dip. However, unless Ascend Acoustics replicate it with the LX, at least, I'm not missing it at all!

 

[VintageFlanker]

I don't see an issue. It's a UK based magazine.

This post seems like it's trying to gather faux outrage over nothing.

Seems like you missed the all point (you better read the posts in the thread). It's now an international magazine, with about 73+% non-British readers :

whathifi.com Web Traffic by Country

Which countries sent the most traffic to whathifi.com lately? Where is their core audience from? Last month United Kingdom was the top country sending desktop traffic to whathifi.com - click below to discover all countries

share.similarweb.com

(This for November only. Sometimes it's closer to 80%)

Like west Mart68 said:
No point a UK magazine giving awards to kit the reader can't buy

Why then stating prices in USD and AUD, in addition to GBP ?

What Hi-Fi? 2023 Awards are... 72% British.

Isn't the Royal family like 72% British We snuck an American in. One step at a time...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Please stop doing this. This isn't Reddit.

You're not in position to tell anybody what should be posted here or not. Take it as it is : some humour thread beating a dead horse.

 

[pablolie]

...
So, what is "UK Sound"? I can accept that certain speaker designs are more suitable for the small rooms typical of homes in the UK. I can also accept that a certain target curve might be preferred by UK people. I haven't seen any proof of it, but it may be possible. After all, some British speakers were designed with the "BBC dip" - perhaps that is "UK Sound"?
...

WhatHifi talks about that sound (as do others", but since they don't ever once provide any measurements to justify that "tuning" (if it even exists), it is just charlatanerie.

I enjoy the "People" nature of WhatHifi... pretty pics, easy to read, low expectations on reader knowledge... easy stuff. But would I ever buy what they recommend? Oh no.

 

[Galliardist]

Without the aid of Martin Colloms, American high fidelity had no chance.

IIRC Colloms and Kessler, at HiFi News back then, were the main promoters of the US charge into the British market, particularly Audio Research, Krell and Wilson, starting around 1980.


As far as I know, Colloms has never worked for What HiFi. Last I saw, he had started freelancing again and wrote a review for Stereophile.

 

[Anton D]

I checked some German and Japanese hi-fi magazines, and the same trend holds. Who could’ve predicted such a thing?

Next thing you know, Michelin will rate more French restaurants above American!

 

[Deleted member 48726]

They have mastered the job of writing 10 sentence "reviews" on a ton of audio gear which then gets cataloged by search engines for just about anything you look for. That has hugely increased their online ranking as noted earlier. We will have to catch up to them before calling our job "done."

Uhh, that's sinister. Speculated manipulative greedy animals.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

We don't. In the right part of the country you could have a chip bap, but it doesn't contain french fries.
Elsewhere you could have a chip butty in something way more substantial than a mere bap!

Is this written in English??

 

[Deleted member 48726]

WhatHifi talks about that sound (as do others", but since they don't ever once provide any measurements to justify that "tuning" (if it even exists), it is just charlatanerie.

I enjoy the "People" nature of WhatHifi... pretty pics, easy to read, low expectations on reader knowledge... easy stuff. But would I ever buy what they recommend? Oh no.

Then call it a gallery instead. I actually find those types of "reviews" more insulting than anything. But I like pretty shots of electronics..

 

[VintageFlanker]

Again...

I checked some German and Japanese hi-fi magazines, and the same trend holds. Who could’ve predicted such a thing?

Apples and oranges.
Are these the most popular Hi-Fi magazine in the entire world? Have they been read by a vast majority of foreigners?

 

[Anton D]

Again...

Apples and oranges.
Are these the most popular Hi-Fi magazine in the entire world? Have they been read by a vast majority of foreigners?

Well, other than proximity bias, perhaps you uncovered something more sinister!

 

[Curvature]

Well, other than proximity bias, perhaps you uncovered something more sinister!

Where money is involved, hyperbole is a source of evil.

 

[DanielT]

I can't find any common thread if I search for: Best amplifier 2023

It's just random different amps that are chosen by various different HiFi magazines, HiFi websites. So if What Hi-Fi? favors British manufacturers/products/advertisers should it shouldn't it be the same for other actors? Based on the conditions that exist for these actors, which country they are active in and so on. A hypothesis anyway and I don't think it's too conspiratorial to believe this.

Edit:
Okay, those who are focused on, for example, tube amps, retro vintage or whatever it may be, will of course nominate some ditto amp as the best in 2023. Fairly obvious and hardly a unique observation to make.

 

[Galliardist]

Innovation of the Year 2023

What Hi-Fi? Awards 2023

www.whathifi.com

They couldn't make their minds up for this one, by the look of it

 

[Galliardist]

There are tons of Audio manufacturers from Europe, Asia, Canada that have a good distribution in UK and could have been promoted either way.


Well, you speak like readers are mostly British. But they are not. What Hi-Fi? is virtually the most popular Audio magazine in the world. There is no doubt the website is the most visited one regarding Hi-Fi reviews, and "only" 22 to 30% of the traffic is coming from UK.

https://www.similarweb.com/website/whathifi.com/#geography

Maybe virtually... but paper copies are only big in the UK, and I suspect the site is based on the magazine reviews. I doubt that many American readers are racing out to buy Q Accoustics speakers, for example, or Ruark radios?

Some of the review material comes from Australian HiFi magazine. If you look very hard you can even find the occasional product-friendly measurement from there.

 

[Deleted member 48726]

Innovation of the Year 2023

What Hi-Fi? Awards 2023

www.whathifi.com

They couldn't make their minds up for this one, by the look of it

View attachment 332771

LOL! Also; "Read more, what is MLA?"

 

[fpitas]

he had started freelancing again and wrote a review for Stereophile

Setting Stereophile back by years.