Stereophile and related sites Sold: Layoffs have begun.

There are plenty of anti-audiophile blowhards out there spewing ignorant hyperbolic self-righteous BS that deserve the sort of retorts that Fremer dishes out.

 

Some truth in that, but the dishing out of that sort of retort does little if anything to advance the audiophile case in the minds of those who are not convinced of its merits, and defending Fremer's approach to audiophile advocacy by saying that those whom he attacks in his trademark style "deserve" it is not much of a defense.

 

I’ve never understood the deep dislike of Fremer. Yeah some of his commentary can be in poor taste but never once have I felt these things were anything but swings and misses at humor.

Juxtapose that with what I find to be super valuable perspective and (arguably) the only guy who actually shoots straight when he talks about things (analog I mean—I don’t follow many other areas of our hobby as closely).

We’re all imperfect and mr Fremer is no exception. Important to look at the other side of the balance to form the full perspective in my experience.

 

Perhaps you're not familiar with the concepts of irony, sarcasm, hyperbole, and humor? Just using the word pedophile doesn't mean a person supports it. It's being used as a benchmark for a group of despicable people so he can be silly and self-deprecating by saying audiophiles are even LOWER than that other hated group. Does this really need to be explained? Gimme a break.

 

Geez Louise. Zapped.

 

The Fremer I know is likable, funny, and smart. He is passionate about audio and especially analog. All around good guy.

 

Don't know exactly who you're referring to, but speaking for myself, I have no dislike (much less, "deep dislike") of Fremer. I do find certain aspects of his public persona objectionable, but it's not a personal matter for me.

You say that "never once have [you] felt these things were anything but swings and misses at humor". Really? Consider just the following snippets from the article linked to above:

"What a putz."
"this piece of phony scientific upchuck written by a know-nothing"
"Yes, I called the guy an idiot. That's because he is an idiot."
"lemmings like Mario Aguilar use their mental pooper scoopers"

This sort of thing may amuse people who enjoy displays of old school, in-your-face insults, but they are not "swings and misses at humor". They are gratuitous insults that add nothing of substance to the discussion. That's all from me on this.

 

I'm not arguing with your basic premise, but there is also a downside to that aggressive behavior. I can't stand zealots, no matter the cause, and obnoxious zealots are even worse. When I read MF's diatribes, I'm turned off completely to his arguments. It's seems unlikely I'm the only person who feels this way. And even though I don't listen to vinyl the way I did for the first 30 years of my audio life, I'm not a vinyl hater.

 

And here we have a nice over-reaction from the 'language police'. Name calling not necessary here.

 

Even in the most recent issue of Stereophile Jim Austin claims MQA is not DRM, and in his previous piece
said that even if it is lossy, what does it matter?

Maybe Stereophile should be folded with this of alternative fact "reporting".

 

What happens if it doesn't get "countered"? Is there a down side to just ignoring stuff like that? I can say in decades of personal experience I haven't found one.

 

“Stereophile and related sites sold: Layons have begun."

 

Mikey Fremer deserves lots of credit for calling it like it is, especially in the current climate when tin-eared millennials who ADMIT they can't hear the difference between an MP3 and lossless review headphones and other audio equipment for major publications/websites.

Legend has it Fremer got a freelance gig reviewing for the NY Times, panned a pair of Bose speakers his first time out, and never wrote for them again. God bless him.

 

Gosh. We'd better nip this in the bud pronto or we might wake up in a world one day where people who care about HiFi are a small niche and most people listen to earbuds!

 

Lol.

 

I had an aquaintance school me on Opera because I am a newbie to the genre.
He began to bemoan that "it is impossible to hear the life like trumpet tones of a great tenor on a mere home HiFi."
I said he should bring over his CDs and hear them on my set.
After a couple minutes he jumped out of his seat and yelled "everything I thought I KNEW about HiFi is BS---THIS sounds exactly like real life---OMG!!!"
The industry is where I made my living for 50 years and I was never able to talk the front office into spending money on a good sound room to impress the millionaires that shopped in New York City where I worked.
To this day I bet my sales would have TRIPLED if I could have let a great setup do the talking for me.
The industry is full of fools that try to sell boxes.
And there is always a cheaper box for the consumer to buy instead of the good stuff.
Stereophile only works on the already convinced.
You can't sell the sound off a printed page...
End of rant.

 

More than likely according to John Atkinson as a contract employee which means a pay cut and no benefits. Yup. Layon.

 

It must be a shame to not be able to take advantage of the amazing benefit packages extended to HiFi journalists.

 

Haha. I am sure all full time employees of T.E.N. had benefits commensurate with any other corporation.

 

I don't. I also doubt many of them were full time employees. You get that HiFi writers all have day jobs, right?

 

The layoffs at Stereophile were confirmed full timers. Others include Fremer, Dudley, Atkinson, and back office support.

 

What are you saying? 'Others include'? You mean these three (Fremer, Dudley, Atkinson) were laid off?

 

No, no. I meant that they are full time employees, apart from the ones that were laid off. They are still employed and I sure their positions are secure.

 

I really had to reply to that - it was the same sense that I got. And I think the reason is that sound quality/recording quality was a big factor in whether those albums are liked or not. So my guess is that recording from small boutique audiophile labels are likely to get the nod - and those are probably unknown artists in what it seems mostly the acoustic jazz pop, folk, bluegrass and blues if acoustic . Equally strange I find many audiophile sites obsession with very generic imho light pop jazz female vocalists. And on that note, "female vocals" is not a genre.

I consider myself an audio enthusiast - not an audiophile - to me audiophile means subjectivism, which I don not agree with at least in audio discussion context - so while a good recording is important and nice when you say "music is the thing" you gotta mean it. And by that I mean I willl take Furts' 1942 historical Beethoven 9th - and yes 1942 sound - over Roger Norrington beautifully recorded but supremely un-enjoyable 9th.

I do want to say (to get back to the subject) I am sorry ML and others were laid off. Having gone thru that, that is no a fun thing to go thru. And by G*d I disagree with pretty much everything ML said. BUT - that is completely separate from the fact he was let go. All the best luck to him and the other affected workers. Hope to disagree with him pretty soon at his next blog/site/publication/endeavor. Good Luck.

(Apologies for replying to a very early in the thread post - I am just getting to it)

v

 

It's in your signature - and btw - disagreeing with Michael, I loved Peter Aczel's "The Audio Critic" - while yes the conflic of interest expressed by Michael is definitely problematic, that does not make the basis of his position less valid - it just cast doubt on his motivation - love that page you are referencing -I send it every time someone wants to buy really expensive cables.

v