What Audio Magazines Do You Recommend?

[hershon]

I had a Beavis & Butthead "lightbulb" revelation when I was in Tower Records today- that I should start reading some Audio Magazines. What audio magazines would you recommend if
my priorities in order are: 1. To see as many ads as possible of product coming out from both name and no name companies, 2. Honest open reliable reviews on stereo equipment (home theater receivers, DVD players, speakers, etc.), releases, 3. The latest technological news.4. Reliable reviews on DVD-A and SACD In other words I'm not interested in magazines that shill for their advertisers- meaning they'll give good reviews that are not deserved and won't give bad reviews when deserved. Any recommendations appreciated.

[LEAFS264]

Sound and Vision
Home Theater mag
These are my two favs

Jay

[kexodusc]

Sound and Vision
Home Theater mag
These are my two favs

Jay
Actually, I really enjoy both of these magazines too, but they're A/V mags, not just audio magazines...maybe not what Hershon is looking for?


1. To see as many ads as possible of product coming out from both name and no name companies,
Oh, you'll get that...

2. Honest open reliable reviews on stereo equipment (home theater receivers, DVD players, speakers, etc.), releases,
Oooh, you opened a can of worms with this one though...you'll get reviews...openness and honesty will take a lot of work on your part, as most reviewers tend to be a bit cryptic...they don't dare flame a product these days after Bose went around throwing lawsuits...but if you read carefully, and read what's not said, you can draw conclusions.

3. The latest technological news.
Yep, lots of that...

4. Reliable reviews on DVD-A and SACD In other words I'm not interested in magazines that shill for their advertisers- meaning they'll give good reviews that are not deserved and won't give bad reviews when deserved. Any recommendations appreciated.
Most a/v mags I read such as those mentioned above have DVD-A, SACD, X-box, Playstation, Movie, CD reviews etc...and don't throw punches slamming bad releases here, but as I said, they're much more careful with electronics product reviews...

Still, they make for great bathroom reading.

I've learned more from the folks here at AR.com and other sites than I did from any magazine, if learning "theory" or technical info is your goal, you might not need the magazines. I look at them as being a form of entertainment with some educational value.
Though I tend to learn something in every issue.

[Shwamdoo]

Stereophile and Absolute Sound are two great American audio magazines.

[hershon]

What magazines, if any, do you trust, for reviews on A/V equipment, or should they all be taken with a grain of salt? I know what you mean. When I was in the record business 15 years ago, it was pretty clear that the records that would get the most editorial space would be that of the companies that were regular advertisors and most of their records reviewed would get positive reviews that weren't justified. Life is a biitch!


Actually, I really enjoy both of these magazines too, but they're A/V mags, not just audio magazines...maybe not what Hershon is looking for?


Oh, you'll get that...

Oooh, you opened a can of worms with this one though...you'll get reviews...openness and honesty will take a lot of work on your part, as most reviewers tend to be a bit cryptic...they don't dare flame a product these days after Bose went around throwing lawsuits...but if you read carefully, and read what's not said, you can draw conclusions.

Yep, lots of that...

Most a/v mags I read such as those mentioned above have DVD-A, SACD, X-box, Playstation, Movie, CD reviews etc...and don't throw punches slamming bad releases here, but as I said, they're much more careful with electronics product reviews...

Still, they make for great bathroom reading.

I've learned more from the folks here at AR.com and other sites than I did from any magazine, if learning "theory" or technical info is your goal, you might not need the magazines. I look at them as being a form of entertainment with some educational value.
Though I tend to learn something in every issue.

[kexodusc]

Well, I like Sound & Vision and Home Theater, as they are well written and go through all the basics. But they rarely do a "this vs. that" format with a winner and loser...instead they cheap out and say...this one's good, this one's better.
Stereophile is the worst of the bunch, in my opinion, but it reviews some nice gear, and rarely any cheap stuff.
In my opinion, pretty much all are guilty, but if you get to learn a writer's style, you can tell by what they DON'T say about a product whether or not they liked a particular aspect...
I guess that's the best they can do...
Doesn't mean magazines can't be entertaining and useful though.

[LEAFS264]

Hey kex. Your right!! My bad. He did just ask for audio only mags.
Sorry hershon, I don't read any other types of mags.


Jay

[Geoffcin]

Get Sound & Vision + Stereophile, and that will cover just about all the good stuff out there.

[shokhead]

S&V. I had others but they seem to do more high end stuff that i cant afford.LOL
S&V seems to do all price ranges.

[drseid]

I probably will be alone in this, but I always liked The $ensible Sound for finding good honest reviews of "value" products (that are not always inexpensive by a long shot)... Format, reliability of release date and a lot of ads are probably not their strength though.

---Dave

[markw]

I probably will be alone in this, but I always liked The $ensible Sound for finding good honest reviews of "value" products (that are not always inexpensive by a long shot)... Format, reliability of release date and a lot of ads are probably not their strength though.

---DaveAlthough their price range has spiraled upwards significantly in the past few years. I do like their music reviews. ...very much.

[topspeed]

I like The Absolute Sound and The Perfect Vision. I'll pick up Stereophile now and again, but not too often. Aside from the infrequent killer articles like TAS had on room acoustics a few issues back, I'm in complete agreement with Kex as I've learned far more on boards like this. Mags are nice to keep up on some of the cutting edge I 'spose.

[markw]

...does, on occasion, offer some bang up tutorials on the basics of hookup and connectors. Hard to beat pictorial representations of these things.

Some of these should be required reading for many on this board, myself included. There's always something new to learn..

[Feanor]

...
What audio magazines would you recommend if
my priorities in order are: 1. To see as many ads as possible of product coming out from both name and no name companies, 2. Honest open reliable reviews on stereo equipment (#) (home theater (#) receivers, DVD players (#), speakers, etc.), releases, 3. The latest technological news.4. Reliable reviews on DVD-A and SACD
...
I like What Hifi? and Hifi Choice from the UK. Also, I usually read Stereophile or TAS too, and others.

PRO of both of the above are (i) more reviews in total number, (including some A/V stuff), (2) more reviews of less expensive equipment, (3) occassionally, direct comparisons of multiple products in the same price range.

CONS are (1) many review products not available in North America, (2) some emphasis on British vs. other products, (2) brief, often superficial reviews.

[vr6ofpain]

I loved the old Stereo Review magazine when I was a teenager. They also had a lot of budget priced gear with good write ups. When they switchd to Sound and Vision, I cancelled my subscription.

Today I have a subscription to Stereophile because it was only $10.97 for a year (online purchase). I will probably not renew it. Too much overpriced gear (>$10,000.00). I subscribed to Sound and Vision again, because I got an in mail sub offer for a year (5 issues) for $10. Couldn't resist. Just like before, I dislike their magazine. I just subscribed to Home Theater (again, an in mail offer for a year, $10). We'll see if they are still decent (I used to have a subscription to it after I cancelled Sound and Vision ~a decade ago).

I like The Absolute Sound, but I haven't found a really cheap way to get a subscription yet.

[RGA]

Magazines are an industry unto themselves and most all of them are FUN to read. The skeptic magazines such as the Sensible Sound or Audio Critic of course take skeptic views - which does not mean the right view or honest review -- it's a way to keep sales of magazines going an it will appeal to people unwilling to pay the premium for quality thus the magazine appeals to their justifications. Still fun reads.

What Hi-fi is basically a giant advertising magazine with very little content - they don;t do in depth reviews and their rather cursory listening sessions...still a bit useful because they test say 12 receivers back to back to back.

Hi-fi Choice is a bigger better version of What Hi-Fi in that they review less spend more time and have a panel of reviewers listening where no one knows the name (or can see) the products being tested...and they are all played at the same volume. This is not a DBT -- It's better.

Stereophile - Reveiwers here review what they like and they vary with experience and credibility -- they say much without saying anything useful...as with most American publications afraid of being sued everything is raved about.

UHF - review in a panel are "honest" relative to the industry about what they like -- but they review very little quantity with only 4 issues a year...advertising has crept into their magazine - but they remain sustainable off the subscription...Stereophile needs advertising or their magazine would shut down tomorrow -- that is an important distinction no matter how muh John Marks protests.

TAS is a bit useless as are most of the rest. Hi-Fi + is pretty decent.

www.enjoythemusic.com is actually probably better than most of the magazines and it's free.

Now as for a buying decision none of them are of any use - consider any review of any individual componant a bit sprurious. Why? Consider the following in basic logic terms. Assuming we accept the following propositionsL

Amp A sounds different than amp B, C and D(All are raved about in press)
Cable A sounds different than cable B, C, D (All are raved)
Speaker A sounds different than speaker B and speaker C and speaker D (All raved about)
Assume same for remaining componants (CD player etc).

Reviewer says Cd player D is better than CD player C in his system of Amp A and speaker A and Cable A. You own Amp QWR, Speakers ZXT, and Cable RTYRTS. All four cd players are said to be very good but your mileage may very or words to this affect after every review.
PROBLEM!!!!

Take Bryston -- I would far rather Bryston running a Dynaudio where the combination sounds very good than the Bryston running my speakers where the combination doesn't -- likewise my amp running my speakers than it driving Dynaudios. This says nothing about my amp or the Bryston except that it needs to be MATCHED well.

Very few magazines really discuss a system approach because few companies design complete systems and even fewer who sell excellent examples of each part of the chain...a bright AMP player may not be bright at the Rotel plant because they were testing it on speaker D -- it might sound horrid on speaker WGTH that someone else is using.

An example of that is Stereophile awarding a cd player from Cambridge Audio a recommended componant while the same unit got 2/5 in What Hi-fi.

And then of course there is your hearing of it -- which isn't going to be the same as what they heard -- indeed how could it -- they had different equipment hiooked up a different room and different preferences.

[Woochifer]

Magazines are an industry unto themselves and most all of them are FUN to read. The skeptic magazines such as the Sensible Sound or Audio Critic of course take skeptic views - which does not mean the right view or honest review -- it's a way to keep sales of magazines going an it will appeal to people unwilling to pay the premium for quality thus the magazine appeals to their justifications. Still fun reads.

Sensible Sound a skeptic magazine? Interesting since they do product comparisons and reviews, without saying that "they all sound the same." Their emphasis is on value AND quality. "it will appeal to people unwilling to pay the premium for quality" -- is this your way of saying that more expensive = higher quality? Or that it's impossible to get quality without having to pay through the nose for it? Once again, you're making all these presumptions about perspectives that don't fit your own.


Stereophile - Reveiwers here review what they like and they vary with experience and credibility -- they say much without saying anything useful...as with most American publications afraid of being sued everything is raved about.

What "American publications" have been sued or threatened with lawsuits? Say what you will about Stereophile's editorial stance (or lack thereof), but don't just make this kind of crap up. The only "audio" magazine I'm aware of that has actually been sued in recent years was Consumer Reports when Bose challenged CR's testing procedures in court. Bose lost the suit.

And when Sound & Vision published a negative review of a Marantz receiver, Marantz did NOT FILE SUIT, they simply dropped their advertising. (Turned out though that S&V was right, because that Marantz model had a design defect that they had to fix) And THAT right there is the real motive. I will agree with you that they are afraid of offending advertisers, but lawsuits? Where did you get that info?

All magazines (except CR and self-published magazines) rely on ads of some kind, the difference between American and British magazines is that American magazines typically review no more than about 15-20 products per issue, whereas a British magazine will typically round up 80-150+ products per issue. A negative review in a British magazine stands out less because so many other products are covered in the same issue. Plus, most of their tests are comparison tests, so everything is weighed in relation to the other products in the test. Sound & Vision occasionally does ranked comparison tests (not very often though), and they will take shots at the lower ranked products -- that's just the nature of a comparison test, the reviewer has to have a rationale for rating one product higher than another.

The products that get reviewed in Stereophile and TAS are self-selected by the reviewers, who live with them for months at a time. Most of the reviewers are not going to pick out products that they know they won't like, since they have to have the thing setup at home for months at a time. The products that would have received a negative review from a particular reviewer get left in the editorial office (or the reviews don't get published), and don't get reviewed unless someone else who likes that product picks it up.


An example of that is Stereophile awarding a cd player from Cambridge Audio a recommended componant while the same unit got 2/5 in What Hi-fi.

The British magazines are more guilty of this. I've seen plenty of one magazine's top picks get downgraded by another publication.

[RGA]

Don't lump British mags together. Hi-fi Choice does about 20 componants (17 in the January edition I have) and there is plenty of write up in it because they use their long page to get to the pointrather than tell you about their 20s when they started in the hobby and the review doesn't get tot he sound until the two thousandth word.

Whether the Sensible Sound claims to review on value is moot as that's subjective...they are pretending to be "the" magazine for the objectivists(self-proclaimed as they are anything but) -- that is fine lots of people need to grasp something and they manage to hold on and stay in business. I stopped reading $$ after their so called credible test of cd players (which was anything but). The Audio Critic is out of print no? To me it was worthless.

Quality and price is not always correlational but geenrally speaking it is. There are some very exceptional $700.00Cdn speakers I have heard and they;ll beat plenty of $2500.00 speakers but the best $2500.00 speakers will trounce it into the ground.

Lawsuits would occur depending on the wording used and I admit it would be remote. Advertising loss would be much bigger - The loss of a major player like B&W in advert monies would be crushing -- there is no one else to pick up that slack because the other big boys are alreadyt advertising.

I knew a fellow at Sound and Vision Canada - the publication industry I don't trust too much -- and I don't want to get into the reasons to save myself getting into trouble.

[kexodusc]

Quality and price is not always correlational but geenrally speaking it is. There are some very exceptional $700.00Cdn speakers I have heard and they;ll beat plenty of $2500.00 speakers but the best $2500.00 speakers will trounce it into the ground.

Just curious, what were these exceptional $700 speakers? A friend of mine is shopping, I can't think of many "standout" speakers in that price these days other than maybe the Rainmaker and Studio 20's...care to share you findings?



I knew a fellow at Sound and Vision Canada - the publication industry I don't trust too much -- and I don't want to get into the reasons to save myself getting into trouble.
I trust these guys only a hair more than manufacturers, big and small, but to be fair, S&V has been pretty good the last few years. It's pretty easy when you call everything "good".

[20to20K]

I loved the old Stereo Review magazine when I was a teenager. They also had a lot of budget priced gear with good write ups. When they switchd to Sound and Vision, I cancelled my subscription.

Today I have a subscription to Stereophile because it was only $10.97 for a year (online purchase). I will probably not renew it. Too much overpriced gear (>$10,000.00). I subscribed to Sound and Vision again, because I got an in mail sub offer for a year (5 issues) for $10. Couldn't resist. Just like before, I dislike their magazine. I just subscribed to Home Theater (again, an in mail offer for a year, $10). We'll see if they are still decent (I used to have a subscription to it after I cancelled Sound and Vision ~a decade ago).

I like The Absolute Sound, but I haven't found a really cheap way to get a subscription yet.

The best magazines were from the 80's...Stereo Review and Audio in particular. Stereo Review lost a little something when they transitioned to Sound and Vision...even though I still do subscribe. In the 80's they always reviewed the equipment I was interested in, I loved reading Julian Hirsch, and the Paul Rodriguez cartoons were the best. Audio had this annual "Bible" which listed every single component and accessory on the market for that year. It was about a 1000 pages thick. I still have 5 or 6 of them in my library. Hi Fidelity was kind of so-so...I didn't like the format of their reviews and they never reviewed any music I was interested in...but I still subscribed so I must have liked something about them!

Today, besides sound and vision, I also subscribe to Stereophile. They're a little snooty for my taste and are a little addicted to snake oil...but they're really good at explaining new technologies and keeping readers informed about upcoming seminars, exibitions, and what not. When I lived in the UK I used to get "What HiFi" from the newstand. Don't think you can get it over here though.

[musicoverall]

Magazines are an industry unto themselves and most all of them are FUN to read.

Agreed. As a "how-to" manual for building a system - or even choosing a component - they are a bit of a waste of time. But many of them are enjoyable reads. My all time favorite audio magazine was Listener because they were totally irreverant as far as what equipment was good and what wasn't, they actually listened to the product, and the writing was entertaining.

TAS has good articles about industry news and audio basics. I rarely if ever read their reviews, mostly for the reasons you cited but I do enjoy the fact that they review lesser known manufacturers' gear such as the Wyetech Labs preamp I own. Once proud Stereophile no longer graces my bookshelf. I enjoy the Brit mags when I can find them. I've seen some of the Audio Critic issues and found them very humorous, and thus, enjoyable. The Sensible Sound has excellent music reviews.

The bottom line is that these mags pander to their audience... which makes perfect sense, of course! So my advice to anyone asking would be to buy the mag that is closest to your particular bent. Use them to create a short list of components to audition. But don't for a minute take them to biblical proportions.

[Geoffcin]

The best magazines were from the 80's...Stereo Review and Audio in particular. Stereo Review lost a little something when they transitioned to Sound and Vision...even though I still do subscribe. In the 80's they always reviewed the equipment I was interested in, I loved reading Julian Hirsch, and the Paul Rodriguez cartoons were the best. Audio had this annual "Bible" which listed every single component and accessory on the market for that year. It was about a 1000 pages thick. I still have 5 or 6 of them in my library. Hi Fidelity was kind of so-so...I didn't like the format of their reviews and they never reviewed any music I was interested in...but I still subscribed so I must have liked something about them!

Today, besides sound and vision, I also subscribe to Stereophile. They're a little snooty for my taste and are a little addicted to snake oil...but they're really good at explaining new technologies and keeping readers informed about upcoming seminars, exibitions, and what not. When I lived in the UK I used to get "What HiFi" from the newstand. Don't think you can get it over here though.

I also grew up reading Stereo Review mag, as my father subscribe to it from the early 70's or so. My father bought it mostly for the music reviews, but I got my kicks from the equipment reviews. Sound & Vision is not as good as the old Stereo Review in my opinion, but it's still a top mag in this industry, and reviews a loy of the consumer equipment that "normal" people are interested in. This month they reviewed three quality "budget HT systems" one being Magnepans!

Stereophile is geared more toward the high end stereo consumer, and as such can seem a bit stuffy. Even with that being said, they don't pull the punches if you read between the lines. One review that comes to mind is a set of $50k speakers that the reviewer simply didn't like. While he beat around the bush a bit, if you read the report you could tell he didn't like the looks, or sound from these cost-no-object speakers. Surprisingly the speakers in question aced the tech specs like nobodies business. They also just did a review of the modest priced Epos that made me really interested to hear these speakers, so it's not all mega-buck stuff. (I bought the Gallo Reference 3's a week after reading the review!)

Between these two mags I think you can get a good spectrum of what's out there in the market place.

Yes, you can get it here, as I occasionally pick up What HiFi at the newsstand. A very good mag, if a bit UK centric.

[RGA]

Just curious, what were these exceptional $700 speakers? A friend of mine is shopping, I can't think of many "standout" speakers in that price these days other than maybe the Rainmaker and Studio 20's...care to share you findings?


I trust these guys only a hair more than manufacturers, big and small, but to be fair, S&V has been pretty good the last few years. It's pretty easy when you call everything "good".

If you think the Studio 20 (and my comment is for the V2) is a standout speaker then you won't agree with me. The Rainmaker is a good choice for the money.

And remember my wording -- I have heard the speaker beat ~$2500.00 speakers, but that very good ~2,500.00 speakers still win the day - indeed, $1500.00 speakers win the day.

The AX Two is $700 directly compared it to the B&W 705 - not much of a horserace for the AX two thumped it upside the head. But, this may say more about the B&W than the AX Two in that I would take the Dynaudio A52 over the AX Two. The A42 I also think is better than the 705, the Studio 40V2 I would take over the 705 the CDM 1NT ditto, and for that matter the 602S3, Rainmaker, Model 1.

Under 1KCdn the best two I've heard are the Dane 42 and AX Two...I would also like to hear Quad and Von Sweikert.

[Woochifer]

Whether the Sensible Sound claims to review on value is moot as that's subjective...they are pretending to be "the" magazine for the objectivists(self-proclaimed as they are anything but) -- that is fine lots of people need to grasp something and they manage to hold on and stay in business. I stopped reading $$ after their so called credible test of cd players (which was anything but). The Audio Critic is out of print no? To me it was worthless.

Where do you get that idea? If they were "the" magazine for objectivists, wouldn't they print a lot of technical data, measurements, and blind testing results? I don't see much of that in The Sensible Sound. You're playing around with labels and presumptions here. You're not an objectivist and obviously don't care much for that perspective, so don't try and presume what types of magazines they would read or what would appeal to them.

From my readings, The Sensible Sound's niche is with components that are in the more affordable price ranges. They review the less expensive components that Stereophile ignores in large part, but they're not as mass market focused as S&V either. Plus, they review affordable moving magnet cartridges and mail order subwoofers, which I hardly ever see from other publications. They're no different than other audio magazines in that it still comes down to the opinion of the reviewer, much of the time with no technical measurements. So, in that respect they're more subjective than even Stereophile and S&V, because those two magazines include bench measurements with everything that they review. Just because they once published a comparison test that found no significant differences between CD players does not make them "the" magazine for objectivists.

The Audio Critic is now self-published and available online. Peter Aczel provides a good counterbalance given that the vast majority of the audiophile press is in the subjectivist camp, but I view him as the self-absorbed and extremist flip side to the pretentious "golden ears" that I see from the subjectivist perspective. He's more about ranting and attacking than providing anything instructive or constructive.


Quality and price is not always correlational but geenrally speaking it is. There are some very exceptional $700.00Cdn speakers I have heard and they;ll beat plenty of $2500.00 speakers but the best $2500.00 speakers will trounce it into the ground.

Speakers yes, but not necessarily with other components. For example, I've never heard any improvements worth noting between $100 cables and cables that cost four figures, yet much of the audiophile press is there reviewing them and expounding at length about how much improvement they produce. At least The Sensible Sound typically does not review cables, because IMO that's a waste of space if the target market is consumers concerned about performance value.


Lawsuits would occur depending on the wording used and I admit it would be remote. Advertising loss would be much bigger - The loss of a major player like B&W in advert monies would be crushing -- there is no one else to pick up that slack because the other big boys are alreadyt advertising.

Actually, S&V seemed to come out just fine. Marantz didn't advertise for a few months, but I don't recall any of S&V's other advertisers cancelling because of that negative review. And as I mentioned, S&V was correct in that case, because their review pointed out a design flaw that made its way into the first batch of production units.

Ultimately, there are only so many audio magazines, and they represent a target audience for these advertisers. The advertisers will advertise wherever they can reach that audience. At the same time though, so long as those advertisers have alternatives where they can move their ads, there will be an effect over the editorial content.

[RobotCzar]

hershon,

Unfortunately quality mass market audio magazines, with reliable information, no longer exist. Once upon a time a person could access High Fidelity, Stereo Review, and Audio; but one by one these magazines gave up the ghost, partically because of the intrested interest in video and partially because the cult magaiznes like Stereophile, etc. moved into the glossy mainstream. The subjectivist magazines are pretty much all that are left. These magazines are basically useless as they are filled with subjective options with basis in reality (i.e., scientific fact). In many cases they are filled with reviews by people heavy on opnion and very light on technical understanding (i.e., pundits). They write for their audience, the high end which as developed, over the years, a large set of myths and falacies taken as the undeniable truth. Also, some glossy magazine seem to want to treat audio equipment as high-status furniture

In some cases these mags have reasonable reviews of content (recordings) but how can one believe what they say when they are so ridiculous in their equipment reviews? Note that all magazine that have advertisements are subject to pressures from advertisers, and even the old quality magazines like High Fidelity were very reluctant to say anything bad about specific equipment (but they did no lie about technical facts).

The Audio Critic, one of the last remaining bastions of rationality, has now moved to be online only (which is probably an inprovement over a once-a-year publishing rate). TAC is mostly rational and will say bad things about equipment.

www.theaudiocritic.com

[drseid]

Magazines are an industry unto themselves and most all of them are FUN to read. The skeptic magazines such as the Sensible Sound or Audio Critic of course take skeptic views - which does not mean the right view or honest review -- it's a way to keep sales of magazines going an it will appeal to people unwilling to pay the premium for quality thus the magazine appeals to their justifications. Still fun reads.

Like Woochifer, I believe you are stretching more than a bit here when you say the $S is for "people unwilling to pay for quality." That is not their target market at all... Who says you have to spend mega-bucks for good quality? That said, I would hardly call their review of the Legacy Audio Whisper a low priced speaker (as they go for about $16,000/pr.). I would say that they go after what they believe is the best bang for the buck at any price (within reason)... If a component costs plenty, but they feel the cost is well worth it, they do not shy away from it.

As for being skeptics, I would just say they are more honest than most... It is nice to see a publication that does *not* just go along with all the audio myths. Just my 2 cents...

---Dave