Hi folks,
Hope you don't mind me having a bit of a ramble, as I feel I'm trying to be constructive. If however, you don't think I am, feel free to chastise me
Anyway... I recently dug out a few back copies, as I was curious to read some reviews of some second hand kit I was looking at on ebay. Reviews found, I continued reading the mags, just for fun. What struck me was that many of the reviews seemed a little more in-depth, or "serious", for want of a better expression. They were a little more technical, and more of the article seemed to be aimed at describing the performance of the product, rather than it's features or aesthetics. This very much appealed to me.
Comparing these mags from 5,10 years ago to the current mags seemed to prove to me that things have indeed been simplified. Whereas a review from back then (of an audio product) would comment on the bass, treble, soundstaging, sonic character, etc., todays reviews seem to simply sum it up in far fewer sentences, often by prefixing "detail" with an appropriate adjective.
Many products I've read reviews of recently, ironically, lack the sort of "detail" I'm looking for to aid my purchasing decisions. But I happily bought a Rotel 951, Nad C320, Qnect cables and more a decade or so ago without hearing them. Every query I had about the products was covered in their reviews.
The "Temptations" reviews I enjoy very much, and would love to see more of that sort of thing in the mag, for two reasons. One, it's always nice to see what you may one day be able to afford, and two, that these reviews seem a little more "techie", as possibly to consider such an item you'd have to be somewhat of an enthusiast ?
I guess times change, and the mag has to too. I understand that the typical AV buyer of the 00's probably has far less technical knowledge than your typical AV buyer of the 90's, and therefore you have to cater to that. But I just can't help feeling that there's a middle ground between the "friendly" sort of AV mags like yourself, and the stat based ones which require a degree of some sort to fathom out the review !
Anyway, I'll stop rambling now, and hope that I haven't come across too harshly. I appreciate you need to appeal to everyone, and the readership figures prove you're doing rather well on that front. I know that it's impossible to please all of the people all of the time, I just feel that maybe you could please more of the people some of the time ?
Stopping rambling now, definitely. If I'm hopelessly deluded, I'm happy to be told so. I remain a buyer (should be subscriber, any HDMI's left ?!) and I continue to look forward to the release of each mag more than is really normal for a 32 year old.
Thanks for reading. Cheers !
Hope you don't mind me having a bit of a ramble, as I feel I'm trying to be constructive. If however, you don't think I am, feel free to chastise me
Anyway... I recently dug out a few back copies, as I was curious to read some reviews of some second hand kit I was looking at on ebay. Reviews found, I continued reading the mags, just for fun. What struck me was that many of the reviews seemed a little more in-depth, or "serious", for want of a better expression. They were a little more technical, and more of the article seemed to be aimed at describing the performance of the product, rather than it's features or aesthetics. This very much appealed to me.
Comparing these mags from 5,10 years ago to the current mags seemed to prove to me that things have indeed been simplified. Whereas a review from back then (of an audio product) would comment on the bass, treble, soundstaging, sonic character, etc., todays reviews seem to simply sum it up in far fewer sentences, often by prefixing "detail" with an appropriate adjective.
Many products I've read reviews of recently, ironically, lack the sort of "detail" I'm looking for to aid my purchasing decisions. But I happily bought a Rotel 951, Nad C320, Qnect cables and more a decade or so ago without hearing them. Every query I had about the products was covered in their reviews.
The "Temptations" reviews I enjoy very much, and would love to see more of that sort of thing in the mag, for two reasons. One, it's always nice to see what you may one day be able to afford, and two, that these reviews seem a little more "techie", as possibly to consider such an item you'd have to be somewhat of an enthusiast ?
I guess times change, and the mag has to too. I understand that the typical AV buyer of the 00's probably has far less technical knowledge than your typical AV buyer of the 90's, and therefore you have to cater to that. But I just can't help feeling that there's a middle ground between the "friendly" sort of AV mags like yourself, and the stat based ones which require a degree of some sort to fathom out the review !
Anyway, I'll stop rambling now, and hope that I haven't come across too harshly. I appreciate you need to appeal to everyone, and the readership figures prove you're doing rather well on that front. I know that it's impossible to please all of the people all of the time, I just feel that maybe you could please more of the people some of the time ?
Stopping rambling now, definitely. If I'm hopelessly deluded, I'm happy to be told so. I remain a buyer (should be subscriber, any HDMI's left ?!) and I continue to look forward to the release of each mag more than is really normal for a 32 year old.
Thanks for reading. Cheers !
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