Stereophiles take on what is hot this year

I am a subscriber of the magazine now. This will be my last year with them.
I can't believe they can't mention a least one piece of McIntosh gear.

 

I have several components that made their recommended list over the years. I've found that you cant go wrong with buying something on thier list as long as you match it correctly.

 

I believe the McIntosh 275 amp is still on their Recommended list, as it has been ever since the first reissue back in the early 1990's.

 

They mention the McIntosh MC275 as Class A.

The list is only made up of gear they've reviewed. If they haven't reviewed much McIntosh gear there won't be much of it in the list. It isn't an overall list of what is best of all gear available. Just of what they have reviewed recently.

 

Thousands of products come out each year so Stereophile cannot review every piece of gear. So I think the list is excellent given that much of the staff is part-time and can only review so much. But I have found it to be fairly accurate on the whole.

The way around this is to: 1. audition as much gear as you can at dealers, 2. study other lists such as the Absolute Editor's Choice, 3. find friends who can expose you to more gear, and 4. attend audio shows like the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest and Newport.

 

I agree with the comment about 'systems' they review individiual components, and never really discuss what goes well with what.
Also the testing methodology is not great. The item gets sent to someone with a few bits of gear and some time to listen. Only a dedicated reader will have any idea what the reviewer's biases are like. And what it means when the reviewer babbles on about anything.
One of my gripes about Stereophile is the major waste of time the writers spend talking about anything but the equipment. Sure it make it more like Travel & Leisure crossed with the Atlantic.. But is that useful? All it really is doing is padding the word count.

The one shining area are the technical tests. They are good, well done, informative, and show the complexity of the gear in question, and the tradeoffs.

 

The most critical combination is amp and speaker. Many amp and speaker reviews discuss what works best.