I agree with most of the sentiments above. I find that the British Mags tend to be less hyped than the American ones, in particular HFN&RR. However, they obviously favor British gear, alot of which is inferior to North American stuff. American audio hype is particularly exemplified by the reviews of Martin Colloms who reviews mostly for HFN&RR, but does ocassional ones for STEREOPHILE. Notice how dispassionate/unemotional he is in the former, whereas he is suddenly more impassioned in the latter (most uncharecteristic for a Brit of his sensibilities!). In the end, I think we come to "trust" a few reviewers whose listening tastes we think we share and who have shown reasonable reviewing consistency over time. Overall, TAS has been the best (but, by no means, exemplary). Remember, if audio-journals do not pander to their advertisers, their revenues get strangled! So, they have to tread a tightrope between keeping their sponsors (advertisers) and not alienating their subscribers. Just part of the games people normally play!
Most Honest Audio Magazine?
I subscribe to Stereophile and I really enjoy reading it but something happened last year that made me raise an eyebrow as to the authenticity of their intentions. Remember the review of the B&W Nautilus 805's? The original reviewer raved about them and rated them "Class A Restricted Low Frequency". Shortly thereafter they demoted the same speaker down to "Class B Restricted Low Frequency". This really hurt the magazine's credibility in my eyes. My first conclusion was that they didn't want to upset the other manufacturers who produced "Class A" products at far higher prices. Shouldn't a trade journal give credit to the truly remarkable products especially when they are produced for relatively decent prices? It's unfortunate that the advertising dollars of the megabuck manufacturers bullied a stellar product into receiving a less than stellar final rating. I'm wondering if this hasn't happened before. I've since heard from some of my audio buddies that corruption does indeed exist in the audio press; everything from reviewers being related to manufacturers to reviewers being offered products for a song (pun intended). Please share your thoughts and experiences when it comes to audio magazines and let me know which ones you'd rate best and worst. Putting together a great system is hard enough without having to sift through the sometimes suspicious advice of those publications who purport to advance the hobby.