Stereophile's 2021 products of the year

I have some direct experience to offer on this.  Absolute Sound, Stereophile (and several other online magazines) have reviewed and recommended our our ATC products without one dollar of advertising- ever.  While all of us want to make the link between reviews and revenue (I know I do with car magazines) they really are not as related as one might think.  Magazines aren't some collection of people in an office somewhere, plotting how they move forward in big editorial meetings.   They are a company that hires writers that likely work from home writing something they think people will want to read.  They want to read it bad enough they will subscribe-that's really how it is.  The people I know in the magazine business, pro side mostly, none of them are getting rich or making anything more than a living.  My observation is the people left in it are sincere and love the business of audio.   

We've had several products make Stereophile's list and Absolute Sounds' list.  I'm always really proud of the gear ATC engineers and builds because I know it IS unique; I'm thrilled that someone besides me recognizes that.  I know for a FACT no one ran an ad or series of ads to get that recommendation.   Since there's no advertising in it for them, the suspected motive of rewarding advertisers is clearly not the reason its on the list.  Someone actually liked it.   

Brad
Lone Mountain Audio
ATC Importer

I think it's interesting that nobody has mentioned the obvious - that the sound quality of modern gear is getting closer and closer. To us mortals with normal hearing modern components sound very similar to each other. In other words, they mostly all sound good.

OK, I know that there are those of you who can hear a dramatic difference in cables and that one solid state boutique amplifier "blows away" another SS boutique amplifier of similar price. It does not surprise me, however, that the Schiit amp with a well designed circuit path using good quality parts, and sold direct to avoid a whole level of markup, sounds really good. Did it deserve a Class A rating? Maybe, maybe not, but I trust the reviewer that this is a good sounding amp.

I've read Stereophile and TAS for decades. One criticism I hear is that there are no longer any bad reviews. Stereophile has directly addressed this. Their position is that they don't want to waste space on a bad sounding gear - there's more than enough excellent gear to fill their magazine. I also suspect that it is getting harder to find a truly bad sounding piece of equipment.

Lastly, I happen to be one of those people who have assembled a system of mostly Stereophile Class A and B components. The heart of my system is 90's vintage (Krell, Thiel) and part of the reason I bought these components was because they were well reviewed in the audio press. The idea that a system composed of Stereophile Class A components is somehow inferior or sounds bad or that I am an audio idiot because I didn't buy non-reviewed esoteric gear is flatly offensive. The level of arrogance, self importance, and narcissism on the part of a few of the regular posters on this board is truly amazing.

I think the reviews in these publications CAN be useful if one picks and chooses what to pay attention to. Objective discussion of features is something I'll note. "This competes with <fill in the blank> 3 times as expensive!" I will disregard. I find message boards and forums to be much more useful as I get a variety of opinions to look at. And I couldn't care less about measurements - I never even look at them - the only measurement I care about is that provided by my ears and brain. 

I was more curious about the fact that the Marantz 30 integrated made it to their class A list at $2499 - this is a class D integrated without gan fet technology...maybe there’s something special about it or is this just a Marantz loving reviewer. Always find it funny that they like to put the KEF Ls50 in class A and the KEF Reference In class B lol - I’ve heard them both extensively, including the Meta version. The reference is for sure and by far the better sounding speaker. 

Stereophile was great when I first got it back in the mid-80s it was the size of a Reader’s Digest and this was the first time I read in a magazine or they were reviewing a very expensive piece of equipment and they actually said it was a piece of junk and don’t buy it

"they actually said it was a piece of junk and don’t buy it"

They basically still "say it", but with measurements (far less liable) with this new VAC Sigma 170i IQ integrated amplifier review.

But "say it" with the measurements instead, if readers can understand them, which to me is even better.
Because if you just "say it" your just taking the reviewers word for it like Absolute Sounds.

Cheers George