Rate the Audiophile Publications

FYI: I found a web audio magazine site dedicated to the serious reproduction of music in the home. As per their site, this is, and always will be, a totally non-commercial section with nothing for sale and no advertising; audio related or otherwise.

http://www.high-endaudio.com/index_ac.html

As a reader of Stereophile, TAS and others, and an avid user of the Web, my approach has been to gather information from many different sources as a starting point relying on my own ears as proof. Though the "big guns" may have their weaknesses, I think they can be used as a roadmap to learn about what's going on out there. It's better to have an incomplete map then to have no map at all, and I have undoubtedly learned about this hobby from them. That being said, no matter if a review is good or bad, the trick is to make your own decision. Many writers find the Cary sound all "wrong", but for me that's Heaven. Happy listening.

Aldenruss, would you rather have a road map that only drives you to specific places(advertisers) rather than your destination (audio nirvana)?

Stereophile has lost that hands trembly/weak in the knees feeling for me but still I find myself buying about every other issue. Listener can be fun, but sometimes overly esoteric, and lightweight. Dudley's opening editorials are usually keepers. As much as I'd like to like TAS, I find it a yawn. HiFi+ is an up and comer with great photos and some good writing. But since this is a hobby of excess and lust, I'd have to say nothing beats Stereosound, about the size of a small phonebook, glossy, lavishly produced ads and features that make you want to run out and pay retail! So what if its in japanese, it's that cool. It even has a feature were the editor goes to the home of some truly worthy reader and critiques his system (I'm only guessing as I don't read Japanese)- I wish this were published in English. About $ 30 when you can find it.

I only buy audio mags to look at the naked women...all those articles just waste space!