Stereophile claims about Magico

Sirspeedy, from my recent reading of Stereophile reviews take them all with a grain or several grains of salt. They don't seem to review much that they don't like a lot. The hyperbole freely flows. Last month they reviewed the Ravel Salon IIs and said something along the lines of "this is the best, most natural sounding speaker I've ever listened to." Come on. How can every new high-end piece be the best they've ever listened to? But they say that about a lot of stuff they review. There are plenty of amps, CDPs, etc, that if you go back and read the review, it's the best ever within some category. I wouldn't buy anything until it had been out a while because a lot of the stuff becomes flavor of the month then starts showing up used and a substantial discount because it wasn't all they cracked it up to be.

Very well said Wireless200.

It is quite obvious that whatever piece of gear Stereophile happens to be reviewing at the time is "the best sounding" “ground breaking” “must have” piece of gear available. Meanwhile some of the reviewers have 10 year-old pieces of gear in their systems. I recently listened to a friend’s rig consisting of nearly 10-year old Krell Class A Series Components and Wilson Audio W/P 6 Speakers, and it sounded awesome, and contrary to what Stereophile would have you believe, the new Systems, that I have recently heard (at this level), do not make it sound broken.

Stereophile Magazine is plainly and simply paid (through advertising dollars) to try to convince their readership that last year’s (or last issue’s) model is crap and that whatever you are listening to at Home is garbage, and that you are doing yourself a grave disservice unless you run-out and buy this newly-reviewed piece of gear. Nearly every review that I have read in this Magazine gives an absolutely glowing review, proclaiming “the best of the best” status on nearly everything they plug-in. This is not objective journalism, or consumer reporting, “it is advertising”.

I’m sure that Consumer Reports Magazine would find that at least half of Stereophile’s reviewed gear is over-priced garbage (most notably the equipment that frequently fails during the review, or shows up broken).

The Magazine does however have some interesting and well written show reviews, industry news and opinions, and strangely enough, their music reviews are actual reviews and not endorsements, but when they get their hands on a piece of electronic gear look-out, hear comes the not-so-subtle sales pitch…

It's not fair to single out Stereophile in this regard, TAS, 6moons, all of them are guilty of promoting the latest as the greatest. Many Audiogoners as well. Consumer Reports? Zero credibility when it comes to audio equipment.

Its not fair to single out audio mags either. Most media outlets are marketing, not service driven. The goal is to get people to buy more new things. Audio is no different. Just face this reality and think before you believe anything someone tells you.

Isn't that part of what makes this country great?

I think that we are all expecting too much from these magazines. It is obvious, from reading these forums how hard it is for people to make decisions on their own and how emotional this activity is. Why is it that people need so much a affirmation when it come to audio equipments?