Best reviewers

Peace on earth,good will to man.Is that right?? :)

Yes Sd I agree with you 100% regarding Cordesman and he is listed above. I still go back to my old TAS and Stereophile's to read his reviews on products. Right on David but Peace on earth, good man is will, right? Sincerely, Will (ha ha)

I find for my tastes, the writing from Marc Mickelson of SoundStage to have a nice balance of passion, knowledge and experience that includes the ability to creatively communicate the essence of what I want to know about a product. I appreciate the fact that he choses words wisely and stays away from unwholesome analogies. In other words, he exhibits class as well as ability. There are many other reviewers out there who have these same qualities as Marc Mickelson and there are many obviously who do not. As for this forum I especially appreciate the contributions of Carl_eber. I appreciate his passion and honesty. I also greatly value his judgements. Of course I would always make sure that what works for Carl also works for me. Let us keep in mind that what this pursuit is about for most people is satisfaction. I believe it is becoming, and of a more excellent spirit, if our comments here allow for one person to be fully blessed (satisfied) by their purchase or discovery and still be able to politely disagree, if necessary, to the benefit others by offering our observations for their edification. I'll stop preaching right after this recommendation. If you would like to see an example of someone truly enjoying his audio, check out the AudioReview.com review of the Rega Planet CD player by Mike Hathaway dated 1/19/99. Done preaching. God bless.

Aside from the laughs I get from those who nominate eber (?!), I am surprised that no one has good (or bad) things to say about HP (Harry Pearson) of The Absolute Sound. Since I am relatively new to this as a serious hobby, I do not go as far back as some of you. Yet from recent reading it would seem to me HP has made, or claims to have made, an important contribution to reviewing standards. I am not sure whether the direction he has taken has been good or bad for audio. On the one hand, I like the way he writes, which I find witty, strongly opinionated, and overall very entertaining. On the other hand I'm a little bit unsure about his technical knowledge. Namely, whether he has enough of it to speak with such authority. On the one hand, I strongly believe that listening and understanding live music is the single most important trait of a good audiophile. Yet I also think a good dosage of technical knowledge is paramount to be able to interpret what one hears, get the most out of the equipment, and make useful recommendations regarding compatibility, usage, etc. Your opinions on this would be appreciated (with eber's customary nonsense and David99s unconditional support thrown in to add a bit of humor).

Joe with reference to Harry P. he IS the reason I stopped subscribing to TAS that is when he was Publisher and Editor. He spent too much time Stereophile bashing. He also gives himself too much credit for developing terminology “intelligibility” was one of them that rings a bell. He also supposedly coined the phrase “Hi-End” to differentiate it from Hi-Fi. I recently tried a trial subscription of TAS and Harry was still where I left him, making derogatory remarks about Stereophile. His pomposity and know it all attitude is not to my tastes although I’ll admit he does have a unique style of prose and always has me running to the dictionary to look up words I’ve never heard before. I like meat and potatoes reviewers, those that have a clear concise manner of communicating what they hear and have a reference point that can be followed for all to understand. A sense of humor also helps. JG Holt probably more than anyone contributed most of the language that is currently used to describe characteristics of products and was certainly the first individual to note subjective differences of audio products through publication of “The Stereophile” now Stereophile.