Your Hifi history

[Diapason]

Definitely hugely influenced. Even now, I have to stop myself from reading too much into reviews or letting myself get excited about a product based on a description. There are just so many times when reviews haven't tallied with my own experiences.

[sebna]

Definitely hugely influenced. Even now, I have to stop myself from reading too much into reviews or letting myself get excited about a product based on a description. There are just so many times when reviews haven't tallied with my own experiences.

I am only at the beginning of the road but I have already learned that reviews are of very minimal meaning as you cannot discern the truthful ones from those who are not exactly so. Most of the reviews I have read focus only on positive aspects of the particular box which are usually accurately described but most of the reviewers skip over the part when they write about negative sides of the reviewed equipment which is ok if the device does not have any negatives but is becoming a major problem when it has, because the conclusion is worth nothing without taking it in the account.

Good example was my recently sold Job 225 amplifier (Goldmund side project). Only rave reviews online. Bargain of the century. Users also happy, hundreds of forum pages filled. But all of them forgot somehow to mention about one big flaw. Lack of resolution and introduction of blurriness to the sound. One would think it is quite important to mention it but well obviously I am mistaken... amp sold, problem solved :) A bit of shame because other then that it had some really nice qualities to it, however it was not the only problem of this device.

[Diapason]

Yes, sometimes I think the reviews are obviously biased (or at least omitting bad points), and there's always the question of advertisers paying for a magazine and all that good stuff. Still, even if the reviewer is doing his or her UTMOST to give a full and frank view of an item, there are just too many variables that come into play for me to be able to link it to my own experience. Apart from the rest of the system, the room, etc. there's the simple matter of taste. Even here, among people I trust and whose opinions I value greatly, it's nearly impossible to say anything definitive since we don't all like the same things.

A lot of the mags/rags have a policy now of only reviewing what they think is pretty good anyway, so they don't even really help to weed out the stinkers. I still love reading them, though, purely for entertainment.

[sebna]

Which ones do you read and rate? Is it a paper copy or online?

[Diapason]

I don't read any of the British ones anymore, but I used to like Hifi+ back when. Hifi News seemed to have gone way downhill when last I checked, and I never really warmed to Hifi Choice or Hifi World (are these even still going? I have no idea!)

I have a digital subscription to Stereophile that costs me something like €5 per year (easy to justify that purchase) and I quite enjoy reading it since they cover a lot of gear we don't really see here and the reviews have reasonable depth along with some measurements. I also like The Absolute Sound, and I'll sometimes search out of a review of a specific component online, but I rarely buy it.

[DaveF]

Paperback:
Hifi News & Record review I'd pick up once in a blue moon. Got very thin though in recent times.
Hifi Plus, just cos it smells great when you flick through the pages quickly. :-)

Online:
A casual browse through Absolute Sounds/Stereophile/Audioreview, all taken with a pitch of salt in recent years.

I find some of the 6moons reviews to be full of wishy washy hogwash at the best of times.

[Diapason]

I pretty much can't stand 6moons, but I agree about the smell of Hifi+!

[jaybee]

6moons is the home if the...

I put a €500 oak block under my cables instead of the usual €400 pine ones, the difference was startling, a full octave lower in the bass, extended airy highs and a midrange to die for...."

[mick]

6moons is the home if the...

I put a €500 oak block under my cables instead of the usual €400 pine ones, the difference was startling, a full octave lower in the bass, extended airy highs and a midrange to die for...."

OMG do you mean I have just wasted €500!!!!

[MooseTrackz]

OMG do you mean I have just wasted €500!!!!

that depends if you have a fireplace or not