Better magazine, Stereophile or Absolute Sound

I will simply say that i have WAY more respect for the "Captain" of Stereophile than i do for that of TAS. Given the "public disagreements" ( HA HA HA ) that i've had with some of the staff of Stereophile in the past and especially quite recently, that might seem kinda strange. Even if i don't agree with a LOT of what has been taking place over there for quite some time, i still think that Stereophile is by far "the lesser of two evils". Either way, i think that both mag's have LOADS of room for improvement. Sean
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In my opinion, TAS lately looks more like Stereophile used to be and Stereophile is deteriorating. Notice the last few issues - it is thinner and it seems with every issue another writer has left. Are the rats abandoning a sinking ship?

I'm suspicious of ANY commercial rag - they do indeed have to cater to their advertisers. (John Atkinson in a recent issue wrote some rather convoluted apologia for this approach.) You may want to puzzle out what he said. I found it tiresome.

With TAS you get utter subjectivity along with, IMO, Harry Pearson's pontifications. OTOH, J Holt moved over to Stereophile because he was concerned about the direction of TAS. And Gordon is someone whose judgement I've long respected. Make of that what you will. Stereophile gives you a balance of Atkinson's sometimes inpenetrable graphs with the musings of the reviewer, so one can at least attempt to pit the numbers against the subjective. Take your choice. In any case, you can see whether the numbers in any way correlate to the listening experiences of the reviewer.

Both of these journals wander way too far into the reaches of unaffordable equipment - at least for working class folk like me (vide Stereophile's recent reviews of the Boulder phono preamp and its sister preamp).

We tried Listener, but Art Dudley and his gang wore me out. He's a fine writer, but his conclusions are very suspect in my estimation. And he wears his biases on his sleeve. At least give him high marks for honesty ;>)

I've been at this a long time and have found no perfect journal. I have to trust my less than perfect ears; they usually serve me well.

I've read and subscribed to both at one time or another for more than 30 yrs(as well as most other hi-fi mags). I don't get much enjoyment from AS anymore, but Stereophile is still
fairly entertaining and much easier to read.

However, I don't buy into much that is written about the actual equipment. After all, if a reviewer suddenly can't hear the gross differences most claim to hear, nobody will be sending him all the nice toys you and I would love to play with. Oh, most are good writers, but that is there only claim to fame. All this crap about soundstaging, imaging, and such is mostly in there heads. After all, blind testing has pretty much proven that.

So what does make a difference? The recording, room acoustics, and loudspeakers will determine 99% of what you will hear. The other 1% I'll give 'em.

Btw, whatever happened to The Audio Critic? I think they still owe me an issue.

Jim

I try not to get caught up in the which is better debate anymore. I simply look for the knowledge and insight that I can gain from each. If they are redundant or misleading they go into the subscription trash can. The audio magazines, for the most part, are not very entertaining or thought provoking. Listener is an exception to that rule, reminding me of Stereophile and the Absolute Sound in the early years. Stereophile and Absolute Sound are good reads if your are interested in products from established high end companies or those about to rise. These two rags define the mainstream of the high end and reflect what you will find in most high end audio shops. For the fringe of the high end I read Listener (their fascination with all products Naim notwithstanding). Another great source for the non-mainstream is the internet. Just hitting the links of the more esoteric items listed in Audiogon is a great source for exposure to off the beaten path items.

Lets face it, one rag can't do it all, and yes, Stereophile and Absolute Sound have become less probing, more advertiser-centric, and only distinguishable by the products they review that month. That's why I look at alternate sources of news and reviews to keep interest up.