The Absolute Sound vs Stereophile

Prefer Stereophile for the measurements. Miss Holt.

I’ll give a nod to Herb Reichert. I could read his stuff all day long. The guy knows how to intertwine story telling and audio reviewing in a very interesting way that captures your imagination. He is also a seemingly gentle man and I bet is a very nice guy in person. Everthing that I have bought based on his reviews has been wonderful. In particular, my hana el and my old diamond 225’s. I say old because I am now listening to tannoy.

The word "comparison" and all hell breaks loose.

brayeagle

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

More likely the other way around. Julian Hirsch and Stereo Review predated The Audio Critic.

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. 

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....

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).

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 .

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

.. And whatever happened to Sensible $ound? I enjoyed that mag.

Both great magazines its not a case of vs as they are both different and great in there own way.Enjoy!!

Really!!!!!!!!!
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Stereophile is the only one worth reading, only because of the bench tests, which tell far more than the waffling of most reviewers go on with. And if some of the wafflers here took the time to understand test results instead of the voodoo magic they go on with, these Audiogon pages would also be a better read.

One assumes you mean while waiting to do a couple of lines of coke.

I read them while waiting to do something in the bathroom....  I just read on from where I left off the day before. I don't get deep into them now, the authors don't get into any of the detail anyway, just fluffy words. What I do like though, is the new music or rereleased music on offer. I have made some great library additions to these articles.

Corey Greenberg was very entertaining in Stereophile. Could not wait for the next issue to arrive to read his reviews. He blended every guy logic with a  great sense of humor in all his reviews.

I seem to always agree with Stevecham.

"Fortunately, Audiogon, Steve Hoffman, Analog Planet, Vinyl Engine and others have replaced my magazine interest in written commentary, opinion, specs and general entertainment (when it's kept civil) about audio equipment".
BTW, I can get pretty Audio Porn pictures on the net.

Enid Lumley was too avant guard for her time. For ANY time. The mossbacks and backsliders will eat you alive. 

I enjoy them both

They both completely suck. Go back and take a look at these publications when they were thoughtful, informative, and nuanced. There were in depth articles about music and high fidelity using sophisticated language that seldom hyped. They were far less commercial, with fewer ads (and those that did advertise were not allowed to quote reviews). TAS had great cover art and both were smaller, uniquely sized. I still get them because they are almost free (to boost circulation figures so that they can charge more for ad space). I look at the pretty pictures, read the vapid, nearly useless music reviews, read the occasional Art Dudley piece and recycle. 

I used to peruse and collect both, but I decided to stop reading audio magazines when a particular issue of one of them featured not one, not two, but THREE reviews of individual components that each retailed for $45,000 or more. I don’t disapprove of anyone who likes to read such reviews, but it made me realize that those two magazines just no longer had anything to do with me. 

I don’t miss them and I’m happy I had the courage to make the change. 

i used to read 'stereo review' magazine since 1971 to it's retirement. anybody have any thoughts on this magazine?

Was just having this conversation with my brother a few weeks ago.  It's all him -haw.  I don't see negative reviews from the big review machines anymore.  No longer see meaningful quantification of a product in relation to its direct competitors.  So many are rated as a value greater than their price tag, that its ridiculous. Everything seems to be evaluated as worth comparing and listening too, or a value, or performs at multiples of its price tag, that its meaningless.  This is very similar to what began happening to the automotive  press in the late 90s as well.  What i see there now is so much worse, with deliberate deceptions, than the audio press we are discussing on this thread.  The primary press money is made from the advertisers, not us buying the subscription, so who do you think they are writing for?...or more fairly said, who do you think the editors and publishers are concerned about when they pre-read a review from one of their writers before letting it go to print, or on their website?  

There are a few key things I look for in reviews now.  If the reviewer makes it part of their reference system, than that product is serious in my book.  Next thing I look for is when reviewers from 2 or more venues make the same, VERY specific, observations of certain qualities of a product...that's evidencing to me.  The downside of that, is the smaller, yet amazing companies, don't often get 2 or more reviews of a particular product.  So, then ofcourse there is AudiogoN and Steve Hoffman.

I used to take both but did not renew either starting around 2003. They had both become less and less relevant to my interests, which were primarily the music, not the gear.

Friends loan me issues from time to time and nothing I have seen makes me want to subscribe again.

Now give me the Tracking Angle again and I'd be on it in a flash.

There there are few similarities between the TAS of old (pre 1998ish) and today. Reviews today are, generally all positive, significantly shorter, and most significantly, have very little comparison to one or more competing products. You might get the occasional sentence saying x is more polite the y or x is a better value than a,b and c. I find these to be throw away platitudes. With no substantive (multi paragraph) comparisons taking place and general happiness, reviews are like cotton candy - easy to digest but not filling.   

To to experience the difference, open a review from the 90s and see for yourself!  The difference is quite amazing. 

Sterophile for sure, although I also subscribe to TAS.  Recently  decided it takes too much space to store both mags, so I've been selectively re-reading and then discarding older issues of TAS.  Oddly enough, I never much liked EITHER Pearson or Holt as writers or as "gurus" and can't remember ever buying anything that either one raved about. I once had lunch with Tony Cordesman and especially enjoy both Dudley and Reichart.

Stereophile all day, every day.  At least Art and Herb and Fremer have good (diverse) taste in music.  Sorry folks but if you want to grow the hobby, the mags need to migrate away from reviewers who play nothing but classical and vocal, and gear designed to play the same. 

I subscribed to TAS for a year and got the vibe their next lukewarm review would be their first.  

Stereophile for choice.  They do measurements which gives them more weight.  Actually I can't be bothered with mags that do not.  Hi-Choice and Hi-News also in the higher league.  Also enjoy Stereo from Germany.
I enjoy Fremer's madness, Dudley's meanderings.  Miss Marks though.

I read TAS when I need a fix, but I just think that they are tanked. Stereophile seems to be comfortable with who they are, and I really enjoy Herb Riechert and Art Dudley, and to a slightly lesser degree, Jason Victor Serinus. Their show reports are better as well. Some may consider Herb's writing a bit artsy, but that's what I like about it. He delves more deeply into his emotional reactions. I find it entertaining, and that's what it's about.
I also find myself in agreement with Art's taste in gear, although I understand why he thinks that spikes under speakers are unimportant. 

Stereophile: Love all those full-page ads for cables! Gotta have 'em to keep the "True Believers" happy!

TAS: pushing the high-priced spread. "I can't believe it's not b*tter!" U or E - you choose!

Fortunately, Audiogon, Steve Hoffman, Analog Planet, Vinyl Engine and others have replaced my magazine interest in written commentary, opinion, specs and general entertainment (when it's kept civil) about audio equipment.

If you like this hobby, both magazines are worth a read. Try not to get too wrapped up in the opinions of the writers. Think of it as entertainment, that’s all there is. Great pictures!

I subscribed to AS in Feb and have seen 3 issues to date. 
That only after I called to get the address corrected. It appears
I will have to call for each issue. Is August worth reading?
Good to know SP is better. I will go with them next.

I identify TAS with a lot of what’s wrong with our hobby these days. Harley and Valin are the faces of TAS, yet their articles reek of elitism, subjectivity, superficiality, and general lack of professionalism. A recent low point was their pronouncement of vinyl’s superiority over digital formats. 

I subscribe to both but don’t spend as much time with them as I used to. Just FYI, they are both about the same size now. That old, pocket-sized Absolute Sound format disappeared years ago.

stevecham,
I also miss those days in the 90's when Stereophile was thick as heck and the read lasted a long time!
Dem were da days.

I get both. I get stereophile dirt cheap and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t get it. I like HIFI+ too. Too expensive in print version but <$20 in iPad version

I miss HP and PhD of the Abo!ute Sound and J Gordon Holt of Stereophile. 

I like to look at the pretty pictures !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I read and subscribe to both but I don’t trust anything that comes out of Harley’s and Valins mouth.  

I miss the good old days of Stereophile, right up until the mid-late 90s, when each issue was quite heavy and would last the better part of a month before I fully digested it. I liked AS too but it wasn't technical enough at times.

It seems to me that a number of Stereophile writers are quite literary and would also excel at writing about things other than audio. Especially Herb Riechert and Art Dudley. Even though I do not share Art's audio preferences, I always enjoy his writing. I also like JA's measurements. 
Jonathan Valin is also a very descriptive writer. I subscribe to both--but if I had to choose one, it would be Stereophile.
If I had the time for three, I'd add Hi-Fi News and Record Review.