The Absolute Sound Buying Guides

This is more of a marketing brochure than a guide. I did not find anything of value here, which I can call objective. Look at the front page to find out who paid for this....and nicely disguised as a buying guide..

Cheers,

Saurabh
 
Oddly, I was browsing through the one on full-sized headphones only a couple of days ago.

Yes, I noticed it was sponsored by a headphone manufacturer :).

They might still be useful as background information, though.
 
If you read Stereophile and The Absolute Sound magazines regularly you will learn about their reviewing policy.

There are many products advertised in Stereophile and the The Absolute Sound for which I have never seen reviews done.

The Absolute Sound's Harry Pearson is fascinated with the Magnepan 1.7 speakers...Though their companys product was given the positive review they do not run ads in the mag.

It's ridiculous how some arrogant people bash the hi-fi magazines, and the editors. Remember, reviewers of these magazines are credible people often have decades of listening experience and the accusations about them catering / giving into advertisers is old and tired.
 
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the accusations about them catering / giving into advertisers is old and tired.
No, it isn't ... but nor is it black and white. At least Absolute Sound is up-front about the particular guide I was reading being sponsored by one of the manufacturers. I found the review of Hifiman very interesting.Yes, I would keep in mind that hifiman sponsored the publication, but that does not mean that I entirely discount what it says about Hifiman or other products.

A decade or two ago, we had to or three magazines. Now we have the internet.

As it happens, I didn't even know about the hifiman headphone range --- but, if I was in the market, I'd be googling for other reviews, not buying on the basis of one.

I found that guide to be useful enough to save the PDF to my library. It would be interesting to know what people think of the other guides.
If you read Stereophile and The Absolute Sound magazines regularly you will learn about their reviewing policy.
Well, Absolute Sound is a new one to me, so I haven't yet. But yes, I'll be seeing the site again.

Sponsorship should be declared, and we should take it into account, but we should still judge the publication on its merits anyway.
 
Of the two print rags Stereophile & Absolute sound, I give more credence to Stereophile, simply because on most of the equipment reviews they also provide lab measurements. This adds a little bit of objectivity, specifically in areas like amp./speaker matching etc. That being said Stereophile also has some columns - specifically the Sam Tellig one where it is subjective all the way.
Cheers,
Sid
 
May be I used a broader brush than I should have. Some of the articles are OK.

If you are paying for a magazine, you should be assured that it is unbiased. i however, did not got that feeling looking a the guides above. Granted, I did not pay for the magazine, or the articles!

However, I could never be sure that the marketing and sales departments do mot have any influence over the content. How the hell does one think they pay their bills and themselves?

Each one to his/her own, but I could never trust any guide that has ads for the same products they are reviewing. To me the best guides are by people who bought them and use them, and my own pair of trustworthy ears.

This is no different than a $5000 connector cable which promise "better" sound because they are made with same alloys NASA uses in space shuttles, constructed in zero gravity environment and wrapped in skins of lizards only found in Madagascar. Look through, you may even find a review of it in one of the guides.

Cheers,

Saurabh
 
FYI:

Stereophile magazine and The Absolute Sound magazines are in business since 1962 and 1973 respectively.
 
If you are paying for a magazine, you should be assured that it is unbiased.
If you are buying a commercially produced magazine, you can never be completely sure. The cover price of newspapers and magazines may not even pay the production cost. The publishers rely on the industry (whether we are talking about hifi, car, or any other specialist or consumer sector) not only to support them through advertising, but also to provide test samples. However much they may claim editorial independence, I think there is a limit to how far they will go in offending any particular advertising manufacturer, or in not buying into certain "givens". How many cable manufacturers would advertise in a magazine that took a hard-line cables-make-no-difference stance? How many editors would accept even one article to that effect?

We can't be sure, but I don't see that as a reason not to read the magazines and their websites.
 
If you are buying a commercially produced magazine, you can never be completely sure.
And that is exactly my point. The purpose of a review is to provide unbiased objective advise. Most magazines do not do that. and that is what makes me not trust these publications.

I also agree with -

We can't be sure, but I don't see that as a reason not to read the magazines and their websites.
Read them, but don't take their word as gospel. If it weren't for these magazines, we would not have people fooled into $500/mtr cables which do absolutely nothing to improve the audio quality. I would rather trust my ears than a review by one of these magazines, as I can never be sure if there is an agenda that they are pushing which we do not know of .

Cheers,

saurabh
 
More reading must be avoided , stay focused,take baby steps

instead of AV mags who survive 80% on the sponsors and use the iconic AV experts to convince,

visit forums where more tech people are there
one example , i have seen people glorifying PC2704 based dac, they are placed in well machined aluminum casing with shiny RCAs , but if you read they are just basic of dacs. the chip is 10$ add components will not cross 80$..

make sure you get best value for the money spent not only good looking AV gear and buy only matching sets
 
The articles and guides links are for FYI only, not for FYR.

FYI - For Your Information

FYR - For Your Review
 
I would also say the reviews on EBay or Amazon are worthless just like most magazine reviews. Since one lives with any kit one buys for a number of years, its worth the effort to hear the item in your setup or similar to your setup before buying.
 
The articles and guides links are for FYI only, not for FYR.

FYI - For Your Information

FYR - For Your Review

Appreciate the information and the links to the reviews. My comments are in no way to undermine your effort in posting the links to the reviews. I am sure many will find them useful.

Personally, for me, I rather tend to make choices in buying (and not just audio equipment) based on my perception of it after having tried it than from a review, which can be misleading.

Cheers,

Saurabh
 
My comments are in no way to undermine your effort in posting the links to the reviews. I am sure many will find them useful.
Agreed. We can't even criticise stuff we don't even know about. All the links are appreciated.
 
Strangely though, one observation I have made and also shared by many is the fact that the best sounding setups are assembled by folks who do not spend much time on the internet. They go by their ear, experiments, shared knowledge by folks who actually have experience etc.
 
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