Part-Time Audiophile Best of the Year Awards

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by LeeS, Dec 26, 2017.

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  1. LeeS

    LeeS Music Fan Thread Starter

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Yes, of course our site is for-profit. We need to compensate the publisher, editors, and writers. We also have site overhead, WordPress licenses, show travel expenses, factory tour expenses, branding expenses, PTA T-shirt expenses, etc.

    I think "directing" traffic from SHTV is too strong a word here. We are sharing a link to an article that we believe members here will be interested here. I've been here over a decade and don't think there is anything unusual about this.
     
    Joe Spivey likes this.
  2. LeeS

    LeeS Music Fan Thread Starter

    Location:
    Atlanta
    A great cable will let more music through on even a modest system. Our readers encompass all income groups so we will review the highest priced stuff. I'm writing an article now about a $685,000 speaker. Why? Because what I learned from that experience has implications for all speakers.

    But I would also refer you to the gentleman above who provided more context for the $300K worth of wire comment. The context is quite different than you assume in your comments.

    As for affordability, PTA reviews a ton of affordable gear and there is much of it on this list. And many SHTV members are well above entry level gear in their system so I think the matching is perfect. One nice thing about PTA is that we draw many younger audiophiles so our focus on more affordable gear will never go away. Advertisers like the 30-40 y.o. demographic.
     
  3. LeeS

    LeeS Music Fan Thread Starter

    Location:
    Atlanta
    By the way, did everyone miss the $500 a pair 3202 interconnects from Black Cat on the list?
     
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  4. Mel Harris

    Mel Harris Audiophile since 1970!

    Location:
    Petaluma, CA
    So, you potentially pocket money from traffic you direct from here to there. Your tenure in this forum might lead you to a sense of entitlement. We'll just have to agree to disagree that that sense of entitlement is justified.
     
    missan likes this.
  5. rbbert

    rbbert Forum Resident

    Location:
    Reno, NV, USA
    C'mon Lee, read your own thread and the posts you quote. There is another member here posting quite a few negative comments, including the one about cable manufacturers and cable characteristics, whom I have quoted in my responses more than once
     
  6. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    @jeffmackwood -
    Jeff- I spend a fair amount of time and money in car-world, mostly foreign exotic sports cars, and it was just as contentious, just as deeply entrenched in different camps with strongly held views, and just as generous as the audiophile community with good souls helping others on troubleshooting, mods, pre-purchase evaluations, etc. There were some total xxxholes in that world, just as there are in this one.
    In terms of bang for the buck, the Porsche is a wonderful car. I was captivated by those little red cars from Modena and had 1/a dozen of them over time (as well as one from that tractor company down the road in Sant'Agata Bolognese). The Porsche on the track and on the street was its equal in many ways (the GT was a monster that bettered most of the Italian cars at the time), most of the product line living up to the standards of the top models, still at a fraction of the price of the Italian cars. And used, so much available to the Porsche owner in terms of aftermarket for someone who could turn a wrench. (I owned a few Porsches, too)
    But why were those Italian cars still so worshipped? The mythology, the heritage, the hand stitched leather interior, the lure of the 12 cylinders or until recently the gated shifter? Porsche certainly had the racing heritage and still maintains it, whereas Ferrari dropped out of endurance racing and GT stuff to focus exclusively on F1, which is pretty far afield from the every day cars- there is something appealing about a civilian being able to enjoy essentially the same car on the street that can be used for racing.
    Which, I guess, brings me to a point-- the value is a perceived one in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. Sure, there are differences between the two markets- high end audio and high end cars. One notable one is depreciation--the cars, at least the right ones, go up in value. The audio gear has an anchor attached to it, with gravity having its effect on pricing.
    Perhaps there's a market for a magazine (webzine?) devoted exclusively to older equipment that delivers state of the art sound.
     
    jeffmackwood likes this.
  7. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    I guess I'm a bit jaded these days about these lists and recommended components. The way Stereophile does it is IMO appalling. It is a vote scheme where each reviewer gets 3 places to vote and a first place vote is worth say 5 points and 3rd place is worth 1 point. It is very possible that something gets product of the year where no single reviewer voted for it in first or even second place! 12 reviewers give a mainstream speaker a 3rd plsace vote. It gets 12 points. A lesser know. Speaker gets 2 first place votes and both reviewers buy the speaker...but no one else heard it so it gets 10 points and loses.

    The impression the reader gets though is entirely different from reality. Further brands carried by local "friendly" dealers close to where the reviewers happen to live get favoured.

    To your other point about going out of date. My dealer in Hong Kong noted that a lot of customers only want to buy NEW stuff because it must be better. But thw reverse tends to be the reality.

    Tibe amplifiers, the best ones, typically sound better than SS. Yet tube technoligy is quite old. The Audio Note OTO integrated just won amplifier of the year and is 25 years old in design. Sure I am now hypocritically citing a product of the year winner having just railed against it, but the illustration here is that if it was good 25 years ago it can still be good today. Audio unlike most other hobbies doesn't progress linearly with time like computers.

    Frankly I prefer stuff that stands the test of time and is relevant in 1995, 2005, 2015 like the OTO. That amp isn't on any list it gets "punished" for not being "NEW" so some generally inferior amp that came out last week and is the IN thing in the now gets the acclaim.
     
  8. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    I doubt Lee is motivated* by steering members to a site he writes for to increase its profits, though that may be a side effect of posting the end of year review. Virtually any time someone posts a link to a site that takes advertising, it has the effect of steering traffic, even if not intended by the poster, e.g. a third party reader who is helping in a thread by posting a review of the product in question, or some analysis related to reproduced sound.
    I think readers benefit from this. I know of at least one audio site that bans any links that it perceives as competitive, and I think that is turf protective but readers lose the benefit of those links. Overt shilling is one thing, I'm just not sure the conclusion you are reaching is a fair one in this case.
    Respectfully,

    ______
    *I meant to add, though pure conjecture on my part, that part of it may be pride of work product. I run a site about old records-- costs me a lot to run, aside from my time in writing and research, and I will post links here for a piece I'm proud of, or that I think is helpful to members.
     
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2017
  9. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    I place a high premium on value of sound for the dollar. I don't want to knock any of the individual reviewers choices but 7 speakers on the list give me pause as being good on the one hand and being good for the price on the other.

    If the list is about choosing the best speakers the reviewers heard in 2017 that were released in 2017 then what was left off? I heard 3 newly released speakers. Great they all made tje list. The 1000 other newly released speakers that no one heard ade left off. That just becomes doing a service for flavoured manufacturers or ones big enough to attend audio shows.

    In amplifiers. The Kingko KA 101 didn't make your list necause no on on your staff has heard it or heard of it. Thus, you all missed a possible better amplifier than ones on your list.

    This happened with Stereophile. For ten years they were doling out integrated amp awards amd not one of them auditioned the longest selling Sugden A21. 50 years. So how many people were out buying inferior amps like those from America (any SS amp under $2k) or stuff like Arcam which I bought (oops) because the best amp all along was completely missed.

    I have favorites too and people will disagree and that's why I voted no to doing lists or awards. Stuff gets missed.
     
  10. ralf11

    ralf11 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    yes, that is exactly the problem

    worse, there is a lack of direct comparisons, side by side
     
  11. Echo

    Echo Forum Resident

    Common boys, @LeeS and some other people made a great list to read and to inform yourself about the newest fine audio gear. Enjoy reading it and don 't spoil everyone's pleasure by criticizing everything...

    Thanks, Lee, for sharing the link to your site with us. :cheers:
     
  12. rbbert

    rbbert Forum Resident

    Location:
    Reno, NV, USA
    Pretty much nobody does meaningful ABX comparisons for audio equipment, for several reasons, the best one being that for most components there is no practical way to do it. Cables could be an exception, but I haven't seen any done that have shown any differences between any cables, even ones with faulty connections or grossly different resistances (which should have an easily detectable volume difference).
     
  13. ralf11

    ralf11 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Earth
    practical?
     
  14. Kal Rubinson

    Kal Rubinson Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I agree. That is why all components are supposed to be aged off the list after three years unless an editor has auditioned it recently or is continuing to use it.
    Agreed. Price is not a parameter that is considered in the voting but a flag of "$$$" is added if any component in any category is considerably less expensive than the rest of the cohort.
     
  15. Bill Hart

    Bill Hart Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin
    At some point, we all get aged off the list. :)
     
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  16. Kal Rubinson

    Kal Rubinson Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Indeed. A series of lists.
     
  17. Mogens

    Mogens Forum Resident

    Location:
    Green Bay, Wis.
    For a little perspective, not all budgets are represented in the article. Using your recommendations the least expensive system that handles LPs and digital would be $2500 to $3000. The majority of American households couldn’t come up $1000 in an emergency. Sub-400 dollar components don’t seem to interest reviewers except occasionally. I’d love to see more of that.
     
  18. Erik Tracy

    Erik Tracy Meet me at the Green Dragon for an ale

    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    What about Consumer Reports for cheap audio ratings?? :hide:
     
  19. Mogens

    Mogens Forum Resident

    Location:
    Green Bay, Wis.
    Last time I checked they have little interest in 2 channel audio.
     
  20. Erik Tracy

    Erik Tracy Meet me at the Green Dragon for an ale

    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    There's AVS. :hide:
     
  21. Mogens

    Mogens Forum Resident

    Location:
    Green Bay, Wis.
    Not sure what AVS is... there’s no need to hide under a chair, as far as I know the proletariat isn’t going to rise up with pitchforks over lack of reviews of affordable stereo components. ;)
     
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  22. Kal Rubinson

    Kal Rubinson Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    That's a relief.
     
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  23. Erik Tracy

    Erik Tracy Meet me at the Green Dragon for an ale

    Location:
    San Diego, CA, USA
    Maybe not pitchforks, but sharp salad forks and butter knives have been brandished in protest over a perception that audio reviews are only for the 'rich'.
     
    macster likes this.
  24. Mogens

    Mogens Forum Resident

    Location:
    Green Bay, Wis.
    My household income is about twice the median for where I live. So, while not rich, I am doing fine. I own a business, employ people, and have a family. Someday I’ll send kids to college and maybe even retire. I could afford to put a few thousand a year into audio or we can travel as a family. I’m not at all angst filled, I just have a carefully weighted set of priorities that take my family into account. What I’d like is for the audiophile media to pay more attention to cheaper components. This sector isn’t totally ignored by any means, but coverage could be better.
     
  25. LeeS

    LeeS Music Fan Thread Starter

    Location:
    Atlanta
    This is correct. I don't get paid based in any way on traffic, let alone that from the Steve Hoffman forums. I would make more money by writing more reviews.

    I posted this article because I thought members here would gain knowledge from it. In the past, people have praised me in comments or PMs for posting similar articles.
     
    rbbert likes this.
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