2. amps-preamps
  3. 1050890719

I recently emailed John Atkinson of Stereophile

I was concerned lately by the lack of Class "D" preamps in latest Stereophile Recommended Components listings and e-mailed John Atkinson the editor, who implied that because many newer preamps exceed the Class D limitations and newer preamps simply outperform their older bretheren, this class was currently empty. Which got me thinking: one can purchase a used Conrad Johnson PV10a or a Conrad Johnson PF-2 on this site for around six hundred dollars. Does this mean that Newer preamps in the same basic price range, like the new Parasound Halo which goes for $799 at Audio Advisor "sound better" than vintage gear? Any thoughts?
triumph
bora's avatar
bora
61 posts
 
STOP READING STEREOPHILE MAGAZINES!!!
weiserb's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
weiserb
476 posts
 
No, None of the magazines care if you get the best value for your buck ie used gear. They want to sell/review new gear. It's a little strange that only Listner ever mentioned buying used audio online. Its sad! They would end up drawing more people into the hobby. Those people would have to buy some stuff new also to complete their systems.
macrojack
1,303 posts
 
Stereophile is a waste of raw material. What you're seeing is grade inflation. That's how they managed to find products that were better than class A.
I went to a gas station recently that didn't sell "regular" gas. The choices were:Premium, Extra Premium and Ultra Premium. Grade inflation.
Stereo Pile is now, and has been for more than a decade, about nothing but advertising sales. The actual product is about nothing but justifying the price of that advertising.
My recommendation is that we all stop helping them pad their readership figures by forgetting that Stereophile exists. After all, it doesn't really exist for you. As a consensus measure it has repeatedly shown itself to be off the mark, falling far short of Audiogon Forums in that regard.
More to discover