Stereophile Magazine (1-year auto-renewal)

I have read Stereophile on and off for the last 15 years, and I have always been happy with their reviews. Of course Stereophile is a very niche magazine, as the title suggests, but they generally review a lot of high-end gear that most people cannot afford. This is obviously a magazine for those who love home audio, and will continue to seek out the ideal reproduction of music within their home. The reviewers are mostly all music purists, so generally nothing is too expensive to achieve the pinnacle of music playback. So be ready for a lot of shop talk geared at audio enthusiasts. Articles are detailed and backed up with data in many cases, but the summary and bottom line are the useful bits for me many times.

That said, I am not one with a disposable income, but I have found a lot of useful recommendations that have ended up as purchases at home that I have been extremely happy with on the cheap. I have bought 3 things over the last decade as a result of Stereophile steering me in the right direction: my Marantz CD player (blew away the more expensive Denon unit at the time), my Rotel turntable, and my Grado headphones. I always recommend listening to every component at the store before buying, but I took Stereophile's word on the headphones and bought those blindly (deafly?) unlike the CD player and turntable. I was blown away at the quality I got for a 70-dollar pair of headphones. Also, I must add that there is something rich and full about a symphony that is recorded on a 180+gram vinyl record versus a CD, and can be really appreciated with the right gear. My Rotel turntable is a low-to-mid end turntable that made me a believer in vinyl 12 years ago.

I recommend Robert Harley's book on high-end audio if you're interested achieving a higher-fidelity sound in your home:

The Complete Guide to High-End Audio

I have appreciated the efforts of Stereophile doing more budget-minded systems in the past, but I still would like to see more, with articles focused on building home systems on a budget.

My title pretty much sums up stereophile, when i got into audio i use to think this was a reliable source to hi fi audio. Once i actually learned the science behind audio reproduction I relalized that this magazine was pretty much (in the words of our vice president) a bunch of malarkey. Reviewing expensive cables, interconnects, AC power cables, cable lifters, vinyl and CD demagnitizers, and the outrageous claims they make about each one is asinine. Most of their reviews are done in different rooms which already is going to make loudspeakers sound different, and also done without double blind testing. Most of what they publish in the reviews is plecebo effect, of course if you swap a $40 dollar cable with a $2000 cable its going to sound better to you because you are expecting it to sound better. After all its $1960 more! Every single human being is susceptible to plecebo effect which is why it is imperative to isolate any visul, and price difference bias from the reviewer. It is done in the medical field with new medicine but not in high end audio. The other things they do just borderline on insanity, for example they reviewed the vinyl and CD demagnitizer and claimed it actually improved the sound but of course fail to provide any evidence of this. Any person who passed high school science class will tell you that this is complete nonsence, CDs are made of polycarbonate plastic and vinyl is made of thermoplastic polymer or PVC. Both materials do NOT magnitize. Another is AC power cords costing 2 or 3 thousand dollars which they review and of course say it made a profound difference in the sound. Which again does not hold water in a court of science, its a power cable and audio does not pass through it. What good is 2-3 feet of so called "good" power cable going to do when you got normal copper cable in your walls? These are just a few examples I could go on and on. I rarely see them talk about room treatment which actually makes a profound difference and is backed up by science and measurements. If you want to really learn about how to set up a TRUE hifi system in your house i recommend two books, one is floyd toole's book called sound reproduction, the the other is by ethan winer called the audio expert. Both are fantastic books that cut out the snake oil charlatans and get down to what REALLY matters and to what makes a audible difference.

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I am not a audiophile.

I do love music.

I do love High Fi.

I can't afford 99.5% of the esoteric "Stuff" they review.

So why bother?

I get a real kick out of reading the mag for the simple reason that it totally blows my mind, how audiophiles can believe 1/2 the BS these "critics/experts" write.

I do value the Record Reviews, and the humor Dudley/Mejias inject into their columns.

It certainly is a diversion for time spent upon my porcelain throne!!

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Stereophile year after year gives the best reviews/writing. Thinking about getting a new piece of gear or a new system. They write reviews for entry level and the high end. A well rounded magazine with great info.

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I like to think of what my system would sound like if I could afford it. I drool with the prospects.

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