Reviewing the Reviewers - and the decline of HiFi

First of all I am glad this thread has provoked a response. I very much agree with Robskers ideal.

I used Breitling as an example of luxury product, that to all intents and purposes is completely and utterly irrelevant to the end user, yet attracts a lot of money. Hifi, let alone the high end, is very much perceived, outside HiFi circles as utterly pointless. Yet we have a watch company that thrives and takes money from the type of people that can afford to buy, and ought to be attracted to hi-fi. I used the Breitling example having read an article at the back of HiFi News.

As to the demise of HiFi - let's face it - 'it's hifi but not as we know it'. You don't have the hifi stores packed to the rafters on Tottenham Court Road anymore. It does not attract the mainstream expenditure as a proportion of our income as it once did. In the past most people did not have a Sony Walkmen, and listened to music on a hifi at home. Now the truth is that the majority of people regrettably never listen to music other than through white ear buds, and the closest thing to bass is from their car boot.
HiFi has, by the year, and I've seen it in the last 10 years become more and more of a specialist and marginalised hobby made of small boutique brands. As this continues the products become more and more expensive. Take for example the Vendetta Research phono stage - it was a high end product, and can probably beat the vasst majority of todays phono stages. Index linked, whilst it will not be cheap, it certainly will not cost you the ridiculous sums that some top end phono stages do currently.
If you do pick up an older copy of HiFi News and read a review by MArtin Colloms for instance, he was not scared to be genuinely critical of a product, and likewise clearly explain his position. His magazine called HiFi Critic is much the same in that regard.
Manufacturers, understandably love what they make, but you can't send a product to a magazine, pay the magazine to review a product, and then also expect an uncritical review. It's a ludicrous set up. There is one on-line magazine that won't say boo to a goose, and says everything is the best thing the reviewer has ever heard.
A reviewers job is to provide a critique, a comparison, and relate it to the reader.
Some reviewers start of very well like Roy Gregory did in the early years of HiFi plus, but as time went on, he had to ward off and respond to several letters about his bias in favour of Audiofreaks imported items. Worse still in the reviewers system edition, I have a funny feeling that he had quite a few items from Audiofreaks in it. The list just keeps going on. Alvin Gold in the late 80's and early 90's was never scared of criticizing Linn products for instance - in particular the halo wearing LP12.
Compare this to Jeremy Clarkson and the Top Gear crew. They may well be 3 middle aged twits, but they can relate products/cars to the buying market. Likewise they have absolutely no fear in actually being openly critical of a product.
Hi-fi is slowly turning into a cottage industry, and this is due to the fact it is simply not attracting customers. Another thing - the 1970's was the 'Golden Age' of hifi - paradoxically it was the time when luxury watches were doing their worst ever as the cheap Timex LCD watches were the thing to buy. Fast forward to now...

Whilst your experience is doubtless courant, it is, nevertheless, descriptive of magazine and journalistic practices to run as a viable business. It explains to some degree why magazines publish what they do, and why - (I say to some degree, because I am sure that there are several other factors that would perhaps take too long to describe).
However, magazines have also been influential over time - such as the storage of vehicles post manufacture that Top Gear highlighted, or fashion magazines such as Vogue that have criticized working practices in clothes manufacture in the developing world.

Interesting analysis, Lohanimal. If, as you say, high end audio is becoming a cottage industry, would it be safe to say that it can be rescued and maintained by the remaining major brands that still hold audio to a higher standard?

I'm referring to brands like Luxman, Accuphase, Marantz, etc. that have the wherewithal to weather the economic storms and retain that look and feel that we associate with the high end, not to mention the niche players and local makes that seem to be doing just fine for the moment.

Reviewers of any sort aside, for the moment, these that I mention will be around for a long time to come. I believe the relevancy of reviewers is overstated and despite the debate, only provide a touchstone of sorts.

All the best,
Nonoise

Mrtennis responded that if HiFi is in decline, then the product should be declining too. Not true I would say, because of the rise of small, specialist manufacturers. In the 19070's with a true mass market for HiFi, I suspect the one man and his dog outfits would have been crushed by the majors, Pioneer, Linn etc. Now these large companies have left the stage, so to speak. The little guy has come to the fore and I think we are as well or better served by manufacturers now as in the 70's. It's ironic, that as Vinyl and even more so, CD are becoming legacy formats, we are seeing such a range of fantastic and fantasticly expensive kit to play them on.

HiFi+, which is the only magazine I read, had it's 100th issue this month and the editor tried to speculate where the hobby/industry, would be at issue 200. The answer was, he had absolutely no idea, technology is moving that fast.

Courant's contribution was of great interest, but told us what most of us expected. Magazines run on advertising copy, not magazine sales, so are beholden to the manufacturers. I personally don't think most magazines would give 5 stars to a rubbish product, they would quietly send it back to the manufacturer and not do a review. There is sense to this too. Why spend 5 pages advising readers not to buy a product. The magazines are finding it just as tough as the manufacturers. I found out that HiFi News one of the biggest UK magazines, has a monthly circulation of about 8000 copies. I find that astonishing and just wonder how it can survive.

One man and his dog is all good and well, but he has some difficulty serving the masses or relating what he makes to the buying public - hence he remains one man and his dog. Hi fi is in decline, yet music sales have increased year on year. The growth of streaming products, and things like the Devialet are good news IMHO - modern, stylish, versatile, and sounds brilliant. That said products like Magico and other uber expensive speakers are bad news - out of touch. Magazines and reviews that slap the back of such products every time they come out is also bad news - I was impressed with Fremer being one of the very few reviewers not to be bowled over by some Magico (Q5's) I think. Read an Alan Sircom review and he simply has nothing bad or negative to say. Hi fi needs to become genuinely affordable again, and reviewing must reflect that realiseable reality.