Brands What-Fi have fallen out of love with

[DistortedVision]

Having recently returned to the hi-fi scene. I get the impression that some brands have fallen out of favour with WHF. The two that come to mind are Cyrus and Arcam. Could this be down to the change of editorial staff and editor in chief over the last few years?

What other brands do you have have fallen off the radar and which do you think are in vogue?

 

[Deleted member 2457]

Having recently returned to the hi-fi scene. I get the impression that some brands have fallen out of favour with WHF. The two that come to mind are Cyrus and Arcam. Could this be down to the change of editorial staff and editor in chief over the last few years?

What other brands do you have have fallen off the radar and which do you think are in vogue?

Only the Pioneer sc-lx701 amp got reviewed the year, normally you get the flagship too, mind you they have been Onkyo manufactured now and I don't think they have been reviewed too. All of the Oled TVs have been reviewed. Oppo gets a 5 star review which is a change. Xbox one s and Samsung k8500 only gets 3 star reviews. Panasonic Oled only gets 4 stars. Normally a Panasonic TV gets five stars. Nothing sinister in it, just a changing of times.

 

[knaithrover]

Having recently returned to the hi-fi scene. I get the impression that some brands have fallen out of favour with WHF. The two that come to mind are Cyrus and Arcam. Could this be down to the change of editorial staff and editor in chief over the last few years?

What other brands do you have have fallen off the radar and which do you think are in vogue?

The most recent entry level Arcam amp the FMJ A19 received gushing reviews from WHF towers

 

[DistortedVision]

Interesting that Arcam no longer offer a silver finish now only black.

 

[nopiano]

Despite glowing reviews for Rega's turntables and amps, WHF have given two recent speaker models quite a panning. Three stars is almost a don't buy given how rare one and two stars are!

I find it quite reassuring actually. Many mags seem to recommend or strongly recommend pretty much everything!

In WHF, QA never seem to put a foot wrong, but they do produce some very fine and great value speakers.

 

[plastic penguin]

WHFI between 2004 and 2008 had given glowing rewiews of certain Arcam stuff: Solo, Solo Mini, all the DIVA CDPs. Strangely enough Arcam CDPs to miss out on a full compliment of stars were the FMJs, along with the sibling amps -- IIRC it was only A19 that has been given the nod.

Between this period it was Roksan and Cyrus taking the limelight for the midrange bracket (the latter still does). in the same price scale Creek never received 5 stars for either amps or CDPs (Evolution 1 or Destiny models).

 

[macdiddy]

over a year ago due to the fact the reviews of "proper" hifi (not mobile phones, soundbars and other s**t like that) took up only a few pages and wasn't worth the money compared to other magazines, but when I did buy it, it seemed anything by Marantz always got 5 stars especially their cd players which came in many different versions.

*unknw*

 

[newlash09]

Are bang on regarding the QA. I have a qa7000i surround setup and also the concept 40's in stereo. Both are awesome. But the q7000i paired with a marantz sr6011 are a league ahead of the concept 40's to my cotton ears. Their clarity and pace are Excellent. I have become the resident brand ambassador for QA here. Recommending them to one and all 🙂

 

[grimharry]

personally I look for a number of different reviews on the inter web as I don't think you should take any one source for gospel. Take creek as previously mentioned love mine and glowing reviews other places.

 

[DistortedVision]

I stopped buying the magazine years ago because its so expensive. I think this is true for alot of magazines.
I agree with you that the hi-fi content has been diluted by other products.

over a year ago due to the fact the reviews of "proper" hifi (not mobile phones, soundbars and other s**t like that) took up only a few pages and wasn't worth the money compared to other magazines, but when I did buy it, it seemed anything by Marantz always got 5 stars especially their cd players which came in many different versions.

*unknw*

 

[ellisdj]

I find it quite reassuring actually. Many mags seem to recommend or strongly recommend pretty much everything!

I noticed this the other day - I clicked to see all the reviews from one site and it seemed every one had a recommended badge. Obviously I didnt check them all 🙂

 

[Joe Cox]

Arcam and Cyrus have proved pretty popular round these parts recently when we've seen products...

https://www.whathifi.com/products/arcam

https://www.whathifi.com/products/cyrus

Hopefully you've been happier with the amount of hi-fi kit in recent months?

 

[DistortedVision]

Other brands that I get the impression that I've fallen out of grace with WHF are: Krell, Mission and B&W. I may be mistaken as I've been away from hi-fi for several years.

 

[Romulus]

I get the impression that Arcam and Cyrus is regurarly reviewed in WTH. I just wish WTH would branch out to other HiFi brands instead of thrusting on us the usual suspects from the same predictable merry go round..

 

[Joe Cox]

Which ones have you got in mind?

 

[BigH]

I do agree it's the same old brands, some speakers brand have been reviewed numerous times but other brands never or very rarely.

Harbeth would be a good start.

 

[BigH]

Delete duplicate, I see the forum still has the same old problems.

 

[BigH]

I get the impression that Arcam and Cyrus is regurarly reviewed in WTH. I just wish WTH would branch out to other HiFi brands instead of thrusting on us the usual suspects from the same predictable merry go round..

Agree but I guess they can only review what they are sent. Their recent Best of Digital Music Players being a prime example.... ;-)

No they can buy products just like other magazines do.

 

[Al ears]

I get the impression that Arcam and Cyrus is regurarly reviewed in WTH. I just wish WTH would branch out to other HiFi brands instead of thrusting on us the usual suspects from the same predictable merry go round..

Agree but I guess they can only review what they are sent. Their recent Best of Digital Music Players being a prime example.... ;-)

Only one Fiio, about the cheapest decent one, no Onkyo and no Questyle. Done a lot of research myself and although they list a number of Astell and Kerns these are not the best value for money to my mind. The Fiio X5 is a bargain and I am getting the Onkyo DP-S1 next as I cannot stretch to the Questyle which would be my ultimate goal.

 

[jjbomber]

Which ones have you got in mind?

Martin Logan

 

[bigboss]

I get the impression that Arcam and Cyrus is regurarly reviewed in WTH. I just wish WTH would branch out to other HiFi brands instead of thrusting on us the usual suspects from the same predictable merry go round..

Agree but I guess they can only review what they are sent. Their recent Best of Digital Music Players being a prime example....   ;-)

 

No they can buy products just like other magazines do.

If there's a demand from readers, I'm sure they will, but not as a routine. The manufacturers should show an inclination to send their products for reviews, otherwise they either know their product isn't good enough or they have enough buyers already.

 

[nick8858]

Yep same old stuff sadly and definitely something going on with Q Acoustics. I have fatigue reading reviews of there stuff. Variety is the spice of life. Lets have some.

 

[Al ears]

I get the impression that Arcam and Cyrus is regurarly reviewed in WTH. I just wish WTH would branch out to other HiFi brands instead of thrusting on us the usual suspects from the same predictable merry go round..

Agree but I guess they can only review what they are sent. Their recent Best of Digital Music Players being a prime example.... ;-)

No they can buy products just like other magazines do.

If there's a demand from readers, I'm sure they will, but not as a routine. The manufacturers should show an inclination to send their products for reviews, otherwise they either know their product isn't good enough or they have enough buyers already.

I'd be interested to hear which magazine can afford to buy exotica in. I doubt any do.

I have heard that some are given a model to demo and can then auction off...... which makes you wonder how kosher the review actually is... ;-)

 

[nopiano]

Hopefully you've been happier with the amount of hi-fi kit in recent months?

Hi Joe, I know this wasn't asked of me, but yes this has improved since the hiatus when you moved locations. I've enjoyed the system building reviews where you try various speakers with one amp, or different sources. They show that matching several 5* products doesn't guarantee a great outcome, which is often misunderstood.

Some exotic systems, rather than an individual component would be good too. And lastly, contributions from the editorial team are always welcome. I particularly like Ketan's perspective.

 

[CnoEvil]

Despite glowing reviews for Rega's turntables and amps, WHF have given two recent speaker models quite a panning. Three stars is almost a don't buy given how rare one and two stars are!

They came to much the same conclusion that I did....and wrote about on here.

The competition has got better and they are just too expensive for the performance they give (much like Linn speakers) - IMO.

At least the previous model gave reasonable VFM.