Audiphile Press: Am I jaded, experienced, or has it declined?

“Is paper better than the internet?” As far as magazines go, paper wins by a knockout. The internet destroyed the magazine industry and gave us very little in return.

TBC, the monopolization of ad revenue by Meta and Google destroyed online publishing. While this has been broadly felt it was particularly hard on local journalism and has had a terrible effect on political journalism and what the public knows / doesn’t know about it’s governments (Federal to local).

My point is that the Internet allowed journalism and publishing to continue, but the monopolization and outsize influence of a handful of players is what really led to the collapse of the press online. 

I sort of get the glad handing of reviewers and manufacturers, the money thing.  

As a years long viewer of "Top Gear", I loved it when they would wholly thrash a European supercar for its inability to simply fit through the streets of its home country.  Or, point out that the talent of a large displacement Detroit engine was simply to turn petrol into noise.  It was brilliant.  I always felt that style of review could find an audience in the American culture.

"The essence of these large floor standers seems more of a Feng Sheu  architectural room divider than that of a respectable acoustical transducer of music".

"The robust design of the amplifier leaned more towards an industrial door stop than the intended conveyance of meaningful enjoyable musical amplification".

If you want to build a top notch system cost effectively, the old school niche audiophile magazines can be ignored totally these days. The winning products for both sound and value get a lot of coverage in other places.

Stereophile does at least often publish measurements, which can be of value if used correctly.

If it’s the more esoteric boutique products that are of interest then a different story. Nothing wrong with liking that stuff. It’s just that the average Joe will be poorly served thinking they have to go ballistic in order to get good sound. No longer the case. Happy days!

In defense of all the ho-hummers on this thread concerning the similarities between the audiophile rags, the covers of a couple TAS and Stereophiles I got  recently could well have been Mike 'n Ike. Hilariously similar. A three-quarter view of a tall, skinny speaker topped with a strange eye-like tweeter assembly. To the left of the speaker -- rectangular, silver-colored separates (okay, there was just one separate on the TAS cover) sporting a rectangular black glass cut-out on the face.

😳😳😳. No need to spend any money. The perfect “system” is already there. In your own car. Enjoy.

Full disclosure: not everyone owns a car. Ask your bus driver to play some tunes 😉