The Absolute Sound vs Stereophile

Glad to see mentioned  the Sensible $ound. Back in the late 70s and through the 80s I had subscriptions to Stereo Review, Stereophile and even the Sensible Sound.
I found each to be interesting and (in their own right) informative, but did develop a bit of discontent with each. I really liked the music reviews of Stereo Review but JH (Julian Hirsch) while giving quite decent reviews on speakers - not so much on electronics. For some reason, he had a strong view that all amps, pre-amps, etc. regardless of price, circuit design, or quality, sounded the same and (in general) the only discernible difference, from any one to another, was power output and features. I enjoyed, very much, the in depth equipment reviews and specs presented by J Gordon Holt and R Harley of Stereophile, but over the years, it seemed their reviews almost took on a tone of arrogance and the only equipment they were interested in reviewing was stuff priced considerably over my head. My, almost local, very good, audio dealer, turned me on to the Sensible Sound - at least it had quite decent and accurate reviews of a great variety of equipment, some of which I could actually afford. and presented some enlightening A/B comparisons of respectively, competitively priced components and speakers...Jim

Yup, Sensible Sound was my fave, poor folks bible .Only mag I really trust as a buyers guide is Stereo out of Germany .
Art Dudley is a gifted writer if nothing else .

I dropped my TAS subscription once I concluded the writers were just plain annoying. The “reviews” read more like advertisements. Every single issue contains the word “venerable.” And JV is just full of himself, with his use of random phrases in some non-English language (which he knows means nothing to anyone but himself).

Digital music and the internet killed HiFi....

Now reviewers are like sales people for mega buck equipment that is as much as a car... and some even a house!

There is a huge market for 'budget audiophiles' .... where are those reviewers?

What happened to a reviewer having a stable system that said reviewer compares new equipment back too? I get tired of reading something sounds 'good'... what does that mean?

And the videos on utub (spelling intentional) all sounds just like my computer speakers!  

I miss the days of having Audiophile stereo stores locally....

jhills

you wrote "...JH (Julian Hirsch) while giving quite decent reviews on speakers - not so much on electronics. For some reason, he had a strong view that all amps, pre-amps, etc. regardless of price, circuit design, or quality, sounded the same and (in general) the only discernible difference, from any one to another, was power output and features."

He must have been a proponent of Peter Azcel and The Audio Critic.