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What’s up with today’s Hi-Fi journalists?

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rockingdoc

rockingdoc

pfm Member
Russ Andrews’ latest “Connected” comic landed on my doormat and provided me with a morning of hilarity, reminiscent of the time when it used to be the “Beano” which arrived instead.
All good fun, but inside I find that the Hi-Fi journal “The Absolute Sound” has awarded the Russ Andrews Kimber USB cable the “2021 Editor’s Choice Award”, that is for a 0.5m USB cable costing £1250! Apparently justified because it provided the “most detailed soundstage” the reviewer “had ever heard from a USB cable”. Fair enough, no lies there, but I would suggest he would have to try pretty hard to find another USB cable which actually sounded worse.
This isn’t another cable rant, just a comment on the changes in Hi-Fi reviewing standards since the hobby began.
 
In the interests of balance, I should point out that “Connected” contains extracts of similar implausible “reviews” from; Hi-Fi+, Hi-Fi World, and Stereophile.
I think it is shameful.
 
It is. But see, Mr Keywood for instance – a reviewer and tech I respect – never does cable reviews. Those silly reviews are always written by the same journo.
And yet another cable thread. :eek:
 
who reads anymore? I watch dudes talk about hifi on youtube.

I like John Darko
I don't like Andrew Robinson
I am discovering the English dude who does Stereo Review X, I think I disagree with everything he says.
Steve Guttenberg is sometimes entertaining, but I find him hard to look at.
There is the dude who takes apart speakers and sells fancy Audiophile AC cords for $200.
There Korean guy is pretty good.
There are many others.
 
I got tired of the reviewing game when some items I'd given 2 star reviews magically had been bumped up to 4 stars by the time the article was published. Funny how it seemed to tally with those manufacturers who advertised in the magazine.....

The whole market could do with a thorough kick up the backside quite frankly. There's an opportunity now for a fresh mag to truly tell it like it is, and not be afraid to ruffle feathers. Alas I don't think this will ever happen, the marketing forces behind 'fancy' cables and the foo now regularly spread on forums have seen to that. Tell a lie often enough it becomes the truth, so it is with audio foo. Now more than ever.
 
True story from the mists of time.. many years ago NAD sent their circa £350 amp (one of the C350 variants from memory) to WHF for review. They damned it with faint praise and gave it 3 stars. NAD were baffled and asked for it back for analysis. There was nothing wrong with it, up to spec etc, however they decided to play a trick on the mag. They told WHF that they had found a circuit 'slightly out of tune' and would they consider re-reviewing the amp, WHF agreed.
This time they gave it a glowing review and 5 stars. Which might just go to show that a review might depend on which side of bed the reviewer got out of that day.:confused:
 
Most "reviews" that I see today are meaningless. There's very little comparison to similar products, almost never a truly negative review, and a LOT of reviewers seem to use systems that contain large amounts of unobtainium.

And that's before getting into the incestuous relationship between reviewers and manufacturers. I understand both sides, but I do wish they would drop the pretense of neutrality. It's not believable.
 
As I keep banging on about, almost everything said in hi fi mags, by dealers, on forums and often even by manufacturers these days is utter bollox... sometimes a complete pack of lies and sometimes an abject lack of knowledge... sometimes both! If these are your sources of info you will soon end up with a head full of nonsense... "fake news" etc. As is witnessed on a daily basis here by all the nonsense questions in nonsense threads about things that are often not even technically possible but have been pushed and pushed by snake oil merchants.

Make your sources of information Wireless World, Electronics World, pre 1980 hi fi mags, books by the likes of Doug Self and Bob Cordell etc etc. All technical yes... hi fi IS technical and you will learn nothing without acknowledging this.
 
If folk want to “believe” that the type of products in russ andrews comic (and all the other available hifi foo stuff) make an audible difference to their systems for the better then crack on believing and spending your money, doesn’t affect myself in the slightest. What I will say is don’t get all uppity or attempt to justify your subjective experience when I personally disregard the utter word salad nonsense.
 
Arkless Electronics said:
As I keep banging on about, almost everything said in hi fi mags, by dealers, on forums and often even by manufacturers these days is utter bollox... sometimes a complete pack of lies and sometimes an abject lack of knowledge... sometimes both! If these are your sources of info you will soon end up with a head full of nonsense... "fake news" etc. As is witnessed on a daily basis here by all the nonsense questions in nonsense threads about things that are often not even technically possible but have been pushed and pushed by snake oil merchants.

Make your sources of information Wireless World, Electronics World, pre 1980 hi fi mags, books by the likes of Doug Self and Bob Cordell etc etc. All technical yes... hi fi IS technical and you will learn nothing without acknowledging this.
Click to expand...

How about this?

 
Arkless Electronics said:
As I keep banging on about, almost everything said in hi fi mags, by dealers, on forums and often even by manufacturers these days is utter bollox... sometimes a complete pack of lies and sometimes an abject lack of knowledge... sometimes both! If these are your sources of info you will soon end up with a head full of nonsense... "fake news" etc. As is witnessed on a daily basis here by all the nonsense questions in nonsense threads about things that are often not even technically possible but have been pushed and pushed by snake oil merchants.

Make your sources of information Wireless World, Electronics World, pre 1980 hi fi mags, books by the likes of Doug Self and Bob Cordell etc etc. All technical yes... hi fi IS technical and you will learn nothing without acknowledging this.
Click to expand...

Have you thought about meditation?
 
Bob Edwards said:
almost never a truly negative review
Click to expand...

I think this is pretty common for many types of product. Someone who used to work for a very large record label told me it was common practice to call reviewers who had received albums likely to get a bad review and politely ask them to simply ignore it.

I also suspect there simply isn't very much truly awful hi-fi being produced. You might argue that it's poor VFM but is there much that would merit 1 star purely on sound?
 
Generally speaking, it seems that many modern write-ups are, frankly, totally subjective. I wanted to type "stupid" but decided that was a bit harsh.

I have now changed my mind and decided that word is totally appropriate.

Going back a few decades, the technical complexity of reviews of a pair of speakers or an amp are just staggering, especially in some European publications. Now it seems to be all auditory wine-tasting bollocks.

"I really felt the soft silvery timbre of her voice caress my ear, in a way that sent a shiver down my spine."
Please stop it.

Oh and someone recently said that a 3-star WHF review is a badge of honour. 100% correct.
 
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