Home  Hi-Fi Audio Reviews  Audiophile Shows Partner Mags  News       

 

Enjoy the Music.com
Hi-Fi World
May 2010
The Best....
Editorial By David Price

 

Hi-Fi World Volume 20 Number 3 May 2010  There was a time, and I remember it well, when hi-fi magazines used to spell out, in no uncertain terms, 'the best'. This was 'the best turntable', that was 'the best amp', and so on. Indeed, one mag even used to earnestly proclaim, "we tell you the best hi-fi to buy"!

Journalists' ink bottles would runneth over with paeans of praise for a particular bit of kit, making it out to be almost a compulsory purchase. Even if you'd had a dem at a dealer, and product B had well and truly whipped product A, if A had been decreed 'the best', that's what people would buy!

Well, in this month's issue of Hi-Fi World, you will not find 'the best' of anything. Most products featured are ones that were designed and voiced with the recognition that individual people have individual preferences, and that we don't all live in a homogeneous world where what one writer says goes. If there's one underlying theme to this issue, it's ‘each unto their own'....

Epos's Encore 50 loudspeakers [p10] are a case in point; these are ‘big bangers', voiced for lovers of thrilling, powerful, visceral rock music at high levels. They're not going to win prizes for their transparency with baroque chamber music. Ditto Klipsch's Heresy IIIs [p24]; no ‘hear through' electrostatics these, but feed them Metallica's ‘Enter Sandman' and they suddenly make sense...

Quad's lovely new Classic II Integrated [p18] isn't the world's best valve amplifier; if you have horn loudspeakers the size of a footballer's fridge you'll probably be wanting far lower powered single ended triodes. But if you're after a great ‘first' valve amplifier, this is a beautiful and iconic way in. Simaudio's high end Moon 600i integrated amplifier [p38] attempts, and succeeds, to be most things to most people, but would never claim to be the best at anything. Ditto Denon's DCD-2010AE, which is a wonderful mid-price SACD/CD spinner that's just a very nice thing to own, listen to and live with - yet not the ultimate in any way.

Thinking in terms of 'the best' is unhelpful and reductive; it won't actually get you any closer to hi-fi heaven. What really matters is what's best for you. That's why we're always a little uneasy with sassy journalistic jargon; life's more complex, as is getting a sound that's right for you and your system.

 

David Price, editor

 

SUBSCRIBE!
Click here to subscribe to Hi-Fi World

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     
 

Quick Links


Premium Audio Review Magazine
High-End Audiophile Equipment Reviews

 

Equipment Review Archives
Turntables, Cartridges, Etc
Digital Source
Do It Yourself (DIY)
Preamplifiers
Amplifiers
Cables, Wires, Etc
Loudspeakers/ Monitors
Headphones, IEMs, Tweaks, Etc
Superior Audio Gear Reviews

 

 


Show Reports
HIGH END Munich 2024
AXPONA 2024 Show Report
Montreal Audiofest 2024 Report

Southwest Audio Fest 2024
Florida Intl. Audio Expo 2024
Capital Audiofest 2023 Report
Toronto Audiofest 2023 Report
UK Audio Show 2023 Report
Pacific Audio Fest 2023 Report
T.H.E. Show 2023 Report
Australian Hi-Fi Show 2023 Report
...More Show Reports

 

Videos
Our Featured Videos

 


Industry & Music News

High-Performance Audio & Music News

 

Partner Print Magazines
audioXpress
Australian Hi-Fi Magazine
hi-fi+ Magazine
Sound Practices
VALVE Magazine

 

For The Press & Industry
About Us
Press Releases
Official Site Graphics

 

 

 

     

Home   |   Hi-Fi Audio Reviews   |   News   |   Press Releases   |   About Us   |   Contact Us

 

All contents copyright©  1995 - 2024  Enjoy the Music.com®
May not be copied or reproduced without permission.  All rights reserved.