HiFi Reviews

[alainrj]

for the world's self congratulatory greatest, largest HiFi magazine the range of HiFi manufacturers reviewed is embarrassingly narrow and restricted. Each year the HiFi awards go the the same ol' same ol'. Lost all credibility

 

[bigfish786]

You can only review products that are provided. You seriously can’t expect a magazine to buy every single piece of audio equipment released? Or the hundreds of tvs?
It’s just a mag. Not an audio bible.

 

[Jimboo]

Well if you are limited to the amount of products you have to buy then you would have a point. I don't think they buy them do they? There are audio shows and I am sure they could review or get their hands on anything they so desired given their circulation and web presence. The glory days of pages of hi fi products rated are sadly gone. They seem to think that we can all warrant and need 4k TV's at two grand so we can see Gail tilsleys adventures better.

 

[Al ears]

Well if you are limited to the amount of products you have to buy then you would have a point. I don't think they buy them do they? There are audio shows and I am sure they could review or get their hands on anything they so desired given their circulation and web presence. The glory days of pages of hi fi products rated are sadly gone. They seem to think that we can all warrant and need 4k TV's at two grand so we can see Gail tilsleys adventures better.

He does have a point. It's not about buying anything, all hifi magazines review only what they are given to review. This does somewhat limit the publications in question I agree.

 

[Hawkwind16]

What hi fi are terrible at testing a wide range of gear while they regularly test and retest Cambridge audio and Roksan and more recently Rega

For years they haven't tested mid and high level Marantz and Rotel kit for example, and have largely destroyed Rotels market in the uk

I'd like to see them test the Marantz KI Ruby combo

 

[shadders]

What hi fi are terrible at testing a wide range of gear while they regularly test and retest Cambridge audio and Roksan and more recently Rega

For years they haven't tested mid and high level Marantz and Rotel kit for example, and have largely destroyed Rotels market in the uk

I'd like to see them test the Marantz KI Ruby combo

Hi,
I think What Hifi offer a valuable review service in that they do review the lower cost equipment. Other magazines do review higher end equipment that i would never purchase primarily due to cost.

There are other magazines that cater for the lower end, so it is about whether they cater for your reading style or not.

Regards,
Shadders.

 

[Hawkwind16]

But they regularly review Roksan, CA and Naim higher end stuff but ignore the equivalent Marantz and Rotel models

 

[Al ears]

But they regularly review Roksan, CA and Naim higher end stuff but ignore the equivalent Marantz and Rotel models

As already stated they can only review what they are given to review.

 

[scene]

As already stated they can only review what they are given to review.

I agree, and manufacturers (rightly) see giving samples to magazines as an effective form of marketing. Though the question does remain, do WHF wait to be given samples, or do they leverage off their reputation and readership and actively seek samples?

 

[Al ears]

I agree, and manufacturers (rightly) see giving samples to magazines as an effective form of marketing. Though the question does remain, do WHF wait to be given samples, or do they leverage off their reputation and readership and actively seek samples?

That's a good question, however if I was a manufacturer looking to get an item reviewed in the HiFi press then WHF wouldn't be my first choice to send that item to.

 

[scene]

That's a good question, however if I was a manufacturer looking to get an item reviewed in the HiFi press then WHF wouldn't be my first choice to send that item to.

I hear what your saying.

Other magazines may have higher circulation than WHF's 27k odd one, but they also get 2.5m odd page hits on their website. (And the forums help that.) So it's a good way of getting targeted marketing to people you already know are interested in the subject...

 

[ivavcr]

Some 40 years ago reading W Hi-Fi reviews was almost like religious experience to me. I can not determine if I was so young, naive and stupid or things have changed that much.
As far as I am concerned, current WHF reviews have at best, anecdotal value. They are often highly arbitrary and subjective.
To get the idea what I mean you may want to read two reviews that may explain my point:

Home review

Despite an upgrade, this old favourite now lags a little behind its cheaper rivals.

www.whathifi.com

Home review

A brilliant and affordable way to introduce streaming to your hi-fi system...

www.whathifi.com

Bluesound lost two stars primarily because it dared to increase the price without a consent of good people at WHF. In process, it also lost some of the initial stellar sonic attributes without real explanation.
We are also told that "Compared to something like the Arcam rPlay, which is now priced around £330, the Node 2 can’t keep up ".
At the same time the review of Arcam is telling us that it has "Rather confined presentation"!?!? Most of the time we give five stars for confined presentation!!
The review also tells us : "There’s no remote in the box, so you’ll need to download the Bluesound app ..". If they bothered to get themselves familiar with the manual, they could have learned that Bluesound can "learn" any IR remote.
We are lead to believe that they have similar connectivity options when rPlay is much closer to Chromecast Audio than to Node 2.
If you added Arcam's own miniBlink to keep it closer in connectivity options, the price difference would be much smaller. Add to that the fact that Blusound application is among the best on the market.....
But we give or take stars the way we like it and there is nothing you can do about it!
Reviewing methodology of WHF may be behind the limited number of companies willing to provide their equipment to be tested.

 

[Esra]

I find WHF unfortunately highly biased to certain brands in their reviews,especially to british ones .Like the VW Golf is the best car in the world as especially german car magazines want to make us believe in europe.Up to a part i can understand but at some point you get discredited if you choosed this way.
It is no wonder if other brands do not make their products available for a review if objectivity is not guarenteed.Otherwise a good and smart company would be happy to make their products available. I think it is simple as that.Yet it is a good place to get an opinion and to be informed about products even if it is not the first place for me to be provided with opinions I can use for narrowing things in the variety of stuff out there.