Given up on hifi magazines?

[ash_dac]

Hi,

The hifi magazine I used to read has gone downhill over the ten months have be reading it.

Some examples.. :-

-obsession with themed issues 'mp3', 'vinyl' 'speakers' so I don't even buy some issues
-upgrade articles that are basically adverts
-review descriptions lifted from novels.
-DIY features based on kits by sister companies
-inconsistent arguements within and between issues
-flippant remarks about hifi

Has anyone else given up on hifi magazines ?

...or maybe I'm reading the wrong magazines!

 

[tomtt]

i can't read these, yet the pics and schema are quite vauable

http://www.seibundo-net.co.jp/CGI/search/list.cgi?key=z_sinkan&c_bunrui=Z04

http://www.iar.co.jp

http://www.stereosound.co.jp/tkweb/index.php

 

[jackinnj]

I gave up on HFNRR about 5 years ago -- at one time they did a really excellent job of reviewing records, great DIY stuff (in the 1970's and 1980's) -- now I don't even browse it.

Gramophone is pretty good for recordings. They have an edition oriented toward this side of the Atlantic

In the U.S. Stereophile is the most widely subscribed upper-end magazine -- there have been interesting articles on vintage equipment, Kal Rubinson is a very good and honest reviewer, but there is a huge amount of bombast and hyperbole.

 

[soongsc]

Many audio brands don't develope equipment themselves, so there really doesn't seem much to write about. I would think it's getting to a point where if you right true reviews, it would seem like reading the same thing every time. Writing about music might be a little better.

 

[C37]

I understand you've given up reading Hifi press since after reading for more than 25 years the " revue du son", HFNRR, and others such as "stereoplay" and many others, I find reading DIY magazines such as "Hobby hifi" and "Klang und Ton" ( both german) or "costruire hifi"( italian) much more satisfying... Maybe that's why I'm enjoying DIY audio.com such much since the past 5 years... And besides, spending the money of these magazines going out to concerts is a much more effective way to have fun...

 

[Puffin]

I had hoped that HiFiWorld would have followed up the DIY Class D theme, having included the upgrade article of the S.I amp. Sadly their DIY content has gone down and down over the years. It used to be in a separate supplement and is now relgated to a couple of pages at the back two or three times a year. The Class D DIY scene is in my view the best thing that has happened for years. It is cheap and it sounds good. BUT, that may be the problem. Are the major manufacturers suppressing the movement or is it just for those who can be bothered to get their hands dirty and save lots of money ?

 

[sreten]

Hi,

I still read hi-fi magazines as they effectively reflect the market.

Sad to say that the market is not discerning, and neither are the magazines.

They are full of misinformed, lazy, and inconsistent waffle, seems
most hifi journalists nowadays are journalists foremost and lack
any real technical insight into what they are describing, though
sometimes there are genuinely interesting articles.

Rehashing companies PR and marketing blurb is common, and very poor.

/sreten.

 

[SY]

Are the major manufacturers suppressing the movement or is it just for those who can be bothered to get their hands dirty and save lots of money ?

Although the image of a manufacturer's cabal, secretly working to keep diy projects out of magazines, is an amusing one, the reality is this: the diy community is a small one and shrinking daily (so is the two channel premium audio community). Magazines merely reflect that. We're a shrinking niche within a shrinking niche.

Integration, digitalization, and the conversion to SMT has taken the wind out of a lot of potential diyers; the days of large, easily handled parts and gear that's simple to disassemble, understand, and repair is pretty much over. Once RoHS (I curse Europe daily for that one!) really takes hold and compatible new parts disappear, the number of hifi diyers will shrink even further and faster.

 

[richie00boy]

I gave up on them long ago for the reasons you outline so well. Are you referring specifically to HiFi World by any chance?

HFW was about the only one that was half decent, now that seems to have gone down the pan as well.

 

[EC8010]

They are full of misinformed, lazy, and inconsistent waffle, seems most hifi journalists nowadays are journalists foremost and lack any real technical insight into what they are describing, though sometimes there are genuinely interesting articles.

Absolutely. I find it amusing when they launch into diatribes about internet forums. HFNRR gave up on DIY articles years ago, and HFW seems to be heading that way.

I've just been informed that my non-RoHS Soviet Teflon capacitors have just arrived. These, together with my pre-RoHS resistors, valve bases, and associated ironmongery will be soldered in an orgy of green recycling using solder that was produced a decade ago. By using up old stockpiles and avoiding current production, I aim to minimise the environmental impact of my hobby. In a further bid to minimise my environmental impact, I pledge to only finish two out of every five projects I start. Further, each finished project will have an average working lifetime of fifteen years before being broken down and the parts being recyled into a new design.

 

[Bas Horneman]

I stopped reading HIFI magazines a decade ago. The internet I think being one reason. Price the other. I did not have the idea that reviewers were talking rubbish though... The price of hifi was another reason with most of the kit being unobtainium for me. Now that I diy it has become clear to me how irrelevant the hifi magazines are. Almost any dumbass like myself can now build a complete hifi installation for the price of a "mid fi" receiver..
I do like browsing through hifi magazines in the store to watch the audio porn though...But no way would I pay 10 euro's for a magazine. I could buy a lot of resistors for 10 euro's.

 

[phn]

They are full of misinformed, lazy, and inconsistent waffle, seems
most hifi journalists nowadays are journalists foremost and lack
any real technical insight into what they are describing, though
sometimes there are genuinely interesting articles.

Rehashing companies PR and marketing blurb is common, and very poor.

/sreten.

Even this clueless individual finds the competence level of the audio writers laughable. But they are even worse journalists. In fact, they aren't. They are writers. I doubt anyone of them has a background in journalism.

I have mentioned this before. Stereophile gave its thumbs up to the Linn Knekt Kivor system. That I can live with. But a journalist, as opposed to a writer, would inform the reader that if he buys the Knekt Kivor he pays $20,000 for a $1,000 PC and customized Linux OS and a swank cabinet. From that I can only conclude that Stereophile has no interest in informing the readers of anything but what's out there. That makes it an adzine.

Being clueless or misinformed isn't a problem. Pretending you aren't is.

Although the image of a manufacturer's cabal, secretly working to keep diy projects out of magazines, is an amusing one, the reality is this: the diy community is a small one and shrinking daily (so is the two channel premium audio community). Magazines merely reflect that. We're a shrinking niche within a shrinking niche.

Integration, digitalization, and the conversion to SMT has taken the wind out of a lot of potential diyers; the days of large, easily handled parts and gear that's simple to disassemble, understand, and repair is pretty much over. Once RoHS (I curse Europe daily for that one!) really takes hold and compatible new parts disappear, the number of hifi diyers will shrink even further and faster.

Indeed. The only growth market is home theatre/surround. That and mp3 players. But it's not just in audio the DIY segment is shrinking. The original PlayStation, and not least the original Xbox, had a very active community. The new gaming consoles are simply too complex for most people. Same thing with the PC. Windows XP is so complex, very few could make anything useful with it even if Microsoft published the source code.

I think RoHS plays only a small part in all of this. Manufacturers stop making stuff because the market disappears. When I noticed that Ortofon has dropped its SPU Type A, at least on its website, I stopped bothering if tubes or whatever are in production or not. I expect that the secondary market will be my only option in a few years anyway. Suddenly the old Decca Professional tonearm doesn't look so limiting at all.

 

[SY]

I think RoHS plays only a small part in all of this.

To this point, I'd agree. But two years from now, when an experimenter can't get usable resistors from Digikey or Farnell and has to start searching the surplus markets, he's likely to give up and pick a more friendly hobby. It's the coup de grace of a dying avocation.

 

[KBK]

There is something that has been touched on, but not really covered, and that is the idea of personal growth. We all go through phases of personal growth. One, was getting hung up on audio in the first place.

That involved a deep facination with and coveting of manufactured audio and video products. Thus, lots of shiney magazines to read and endorphinize/seritonize our cooing little selves with, and by.

Then, at whatever pace our individual self evolved and moved by...we went into another phase. One of these is realizing -like looking red faced at our past relationships- we don't need them anymore, we are now different people living for slightly different reasons. No more audio magazines.

Just a phase of personal evolution. And here on this site, due to the site's very nature, you will find the vast majority have moved beyond, or past, audio magazines.

 

[Bas Horneman]

I think you have touched on the CRUX of the matter...great post KBK!

 

[ash_dac]

I gave up on them long ago for the reasons you outline so well. Are you referring specifically to HiFi World by any chance?

HFW was about the only one that was half decent, now that seems to have gone down the pan as well.

Yes. I missed the class D Diy feature.

Has it been renamed ? (on their website it's referred to as hi >>fi world and computer audio)