I’ve been a member in this site for many yrs , this site long time ago allows arguments connected to topics, respect is still there, this is the time when Albertporter , Jadem6, Swampwaler. Sean, Today some members they don’t answe r the thread and the question correctly, because they always stir it to the gear they own. And when they don’t like the opinion of others? They easily get offended. For me Audiogon is still better than others.
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If you have more focused interest in Audio you can also join Facebook groups for them. I'm a member of several including Luxman and Magnepan. Just do a search on groups.
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Audio Afficianado is a great site. Really friendly with extremely knowledgable people with high end systems.
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It’s an imperfect world. That includes hifi forums. I’ve found this one to be most informative even though the signal to noise ratio can be fairly low at times. That’s because, succeed or not, the “high end” users here do tend to strive for the best. The tricky part is always to synthesize as much info out of the chatter as possible in order to learn.
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Here is my viewpoint. I’m someone who thinks that room acoustics are > 50% of the sound and that boutique cables are way, way, way down on the list of things worth spending money on if good sound is your objective. I just say that so you know my perspective.
- Audio Aficionado is smaller and polite. It seems to have a greater fraction of participants for whom price is not much of an obstacle. I used to be a member, though I’m not in that group. The owner/moderator Ivan is a dealer of many lines and a great guy. You won’t find much debunking of crazy stuff there, just as you won’t find it here, but the moderation leads to more courteous and productive discussions IMO.
- Audiogon Forun is interesting, though sometimes I wonder why I read it. Typically, someone asks a question, there are 100 widely varying answers, very few people consider that their experience might not apply to everyone and every room, and there is not much productive back-and-forth. It can and does happen, but IMO it’s not the norm.
- Steve Hoffman Forums is more (not entirely!) LP focused and reasonably polite. People there are less likely to recommend crystals or gongs and are less likely to be fabulously wealth. Again, its moderation stops extreme comments, which is helpful. I enjoy it.
- If you're in the minority interested in room correction or other DSP, you might look at AVNirvana and AVSForums.
- In the end, once you have a good system, all you can do is get hints from reviews and conversations and then decide if a piece is worth auditioning. Ten audiophiles, twenty opinions. Figure out what you want. For example, do you want to hear the original venue or have a lot of "ambiance" caused by reflections? Both are valid goals, but IMO not compatible. Similarly, which do you consider more important: accuracy, a beautiful sound, or extreme detail? Once you know what you want, it’s easier to find your way there.
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