What HiFi Awards

[JoelSim]

The Sennheiser Momentum headphones are over ear not on ears, the on ear ones are about £100 cheaper.

Yup. They don't have an over-ear category though. Will probably confuse some people.

 

[John Duncan]

They don't have an over-ear category though. Will probably confuse some people.

Starting with me.

 

[BigH]

The Sennheiser Momentum headphones are over ear not on ears, the on ear ones are about £100 cheaper.

Yup. They don't have an over-ear category though. Will probably confuse some people.

Well they have an at home category. I would have thought the Sennheiser Momentum On Ear would have been in the on ear category and the Momentum over ears in the at home category, some say the on ear ones are better than the other ears and they are much cheaper.

 

[John Duncan]

Well they have an at home category. I would have thought the Sennheiser Momentum On Ear would have been in the on ear category and the Momentum over ears in the at home category, some say the on ear ones are better than the other ears and they are much cheaper.

 

[spiny norman]

Well they have an at home category. I would have thought the Sennheiser Momentum On Ear would have been in the on ear category and the Momentum over ears in the at home category, some say the on ear ones are better than the other ears and they are much cheaper.

Three: a left ear, a right ear, and a wild frontier

 

[NSA_watch_my_toilet]

For me, this whole topic throws an important question : who is believing in such rankings !

A rating on the very serious Hifi-forum.de shows that 95% of the users declared that they didn't trust magazines for their ranking or the impartiality of their tests. The whole lot of the posters in the forum although, rarely could see a reality between the magazines tests and the real performance. Another serious critic coming from serious testers is that magazines NEVER make blindtests, built up serious test methodologies nor take mesures on their own. In some extreme cases, they use false methodologies for backing some voodoo theories (Stereoplay was particulary badly concerned about that). In the Whathifi ranking for example, I totally miss a test methodology, and no serious mesures seemed to have been made.

I although put the finger of another problematic aspect of a tests and rankings : The perception of the tester himself and his tastes are never explained and it's a key element for knowing what a product is in the eyes of a reviewer.

Fact is, such classments never replace a good personal experience in hifi. Go to your local hifi stores or to hifi-friends in your near, test the stuff out, learn, and you will be able to make your own conclusions and putting a finger on your own likes.

 

[BenLaw]

95% of the users declared that they didn't trust magazines for their ranking

And therein lies the fallacy of your post. You and those other forum users (and me) are not normal people. Normal people go online or (maybe) into Richer Sounds, want to buy something 'good' and get the thing with 5 stars.

 

[richardw42]

I've not got a problem with any individual award.

But it's all pretty predictable.

KEF LS50 winning the Reader award was odds on. How many who voted actually own them.

Its also such such a commercial excercise. I've had emails from Superfi and Sevenoaks referencing the awards, I'm not ever so comfortable seeing a BUY link next to the winning items either.

I dont think even mr Spock would regard the AKG K550 as on ear headphones.

 

[steve_1979]

I can't find the award for best HDMI cable...

Well done WHF. Good for you. :clap:

Maybe they've started to realise that many people won't fall for that one anymore and by stating that digital cables can make a difference is putting off some of the poential readers?

 

[BenLaw]

I don't think so. This looks like a recent review; the cable lacked dynamics, had an anaemic colour palette and an insecure grasp of motion.

 

[Andy Clough]

Anyone wake up this morning to an email from Richer Sounds telling you a lot of the What HiFi Awards winners? Is this normal before anything officially released from What HiFI themselves?

Officially the embargo ended one minute past midnight, so Richer were perfectly entitled to release their email then. Our iPad edition also went live at exactly the same time. The website went live at 9am as we had to do an enormous amount of work overnight to get everything ready without giving the game away beforehand. As for a regular 9-5 working day - I wish! We've been working early/late every day this week to get everything sorted. I now need one of these :beer:

 

[John Duncan]

I don't think so. This looks like a recent review; the cable lacked dynamics, had an anaemic colour palette and an insecure grasp of motion.

Authored on: 2012-03-27 11:50:44 +0100

 

[BenLaw]

OOI Andy, if you're able to say, how long in advance are the retailers told and how is it decided which retailers are told? (I had emails from Richers, Sevenoaks and Superfi, all well before I got the WHF email late today.)

 

[BenLaw]

I don't think so. This looks like a recent review; the cable lacked dynamics, had an anaemic colour palette and an insecure grasp of motion.

Authored on: 2012-03-27 11:50:44 +0100

Ok. So we're thinking maybe WHF has had an epiphany in 2013? If only it was possible to search reviews by date.... what EDITED designed this EDITED site software, eh?

 

[The_Lhc]

OOI Andy, if you're able to say, how long in advance are the retailers told and how is it decided which retailers are told? (I had emails from Richers, Sevenoaks and Superfi, all well before I got the WHF email late today.)

Presumably they were all at the awards ceremony.

 

[Andy Clough]

The Sennheiser Momentum headphones are over ear not on ears, the on ear ones are about £100 cheaper.

We decided to simplify the naming convention in the Headphone category (one of the biggest with 13 Awards) by referring to them as in-ears, best portable on-ears (including 'over-ears') and best home on/over-ears (which are either too large to wear out and about, or in the case of the Grados sound fabulous but leak sound like crazy). Our view is that the distinction between on-ear and over-ear is a slightly artificial one and makes things even more confusing for the buyer. You're welcome to disagree

 

[Andy Clough]

OOI Andy, if you're able to say, how long in advance are the retailers told and how is it decided which retailers are told? (I had emails from Richers, Sevenoaks and Superfi, all well before I got the WHF email late today.)

There's no secret about it. We held an Awards dinner in London on October 10th where we announced the winners to the industry (manufacturers, PRs and retailers). The Awards were then under strict embargo for one week until today, so retailers/manufacturers had time to get stock into the shops and prepare their marketing material. Then they can release their advertising/emails or whatever on the same day we unveil the winners publicly.

 

[BenLaw]

OOI Andy, if you're able to say, how long in advance are the retailers told and how is it decided which retailers are told? (I had emails from Richers, Sevenoaks and Superfi, all well before I got the WHF email late today.)

Presumably they were all at the awards ceremony.

Oh yeah, I forgot they had an actual ceremony. My invite must have got lost in the post again.

 

[BenLaw]

There's no secret about it. We held an Awards dinner in London on October 10th where we announced the winners to the industry (manufacturers, PRs and retailers). The Awards were then under strict embargo for one week until today, so retailers/manufacturers had time to get stock into the shops and prepare their marketing material. Then they can release their advertising/emails or whatever on the same day we unveil the winners publicly.

Thanks Andy.

 

[Craig M.]

95% of the users declared that they didn't trust magazines for their ranking

And therein lies the fallacy of your post. You and those other forum users (and me) are not normal people. Normal people go online or (maybe) into Richer Sounds, want to buy something 'good' and get the thing with 5 stars.

Bang on. Exactly what I used to do when I was normal. Ah, happy days.

 

[BenLaw]

I seriously doubt you've ever been normal Craig.

 

[BigH]

The Sennheiser Momentum headphones are over ear not on ears, the on ear ones are about £100 cheaper.

We decided to simplify the naming convention in the Headphone category (one of the biggest with 13 Awards) by referring to them as in-ears, best portable on-ears (including 'over-ears') and best home on/over-ears (which are either too large to wear out and about, or in the case of the Grados sound fabulous but leak sound like crazy). Our view is that the distinction between on-ear and over-ear is a slightly artificial one and makes things even more confusing for the buyer. You're welcome to disagree

Well it is most confusing as Sennheiser do 2 versions of the Momentum the on ear one and the over ear version, so having the over ear one winning the on ear section will confuse some people who are not familiar with Sennheiser headphones, I can see people rushing out and buying the on ear ones esp. when they see the £160 price tag.

So if you had the Sennheiser On Ear headphones would it not have won an award?

How would the Sennheiser Over Ear fair in the At Home section?

 

[BigH]

Surprised the AKG 550 won best headphone at home, these can be bought for around £130 so not sure where you get your guide price of £200 from?

Also surprised your review did not pick up on the problem of lack of bass, many buyers have commented on this fact.

 

[Bigsounds]

A rating on the very serious Hifi-forum.de shows that 95% of the users declared that they didn't trust magazines for their ranking or the impartiality of their tests. The whole lot of the posters in the forum although, rarely could see a reality between the magazines tests and the real performance. Another serious critic coming from serious testers is that magazines NEVER make blindtests, built up serious test methodologies nor take mesures on their own. In some extreme cases, they use false methodologies for backing some voodoo theories (Stereoplay was particulary badly concerned about that). In the Whathifi ranking for example, I totally miss a test methodology, and no serious mesures seemed to have been made.

But these methods don't sell Christmas presents. :doh:

 

[Bigsounds]

Its also such such a commercial excercise. I've had emails from Superfi and Sevenoaks referencing the awards, I'm not ever so comfortable seeing a BUY link next to the winning items either.

Of course, they sell christmas presents. You have awards this time of year for a reason.