Stereophile has lost that hands trembly/weak in the knees feeling for me but still I find myself buying about every other issue. Listener can be fun, but sometimes overly esoteric, and lightweight. Dudley's opening editorials are usually keepers. As much as I'd like to like TAS, I find it a yawn. HiFi+ is an up and comer with great photos and some good writing. But since this is a hobby of excess and lust, I'd have to say nothing beats Stereosound, about the size of a small phonebook, glossy, lavishly produced ads and features that make you want to run out and pay retail! So what if its in japanese, it's that cool. It even has a feature were the editor goes to the home of some truly worthy reader and critiques his system (I'm only guessing as I don't read Japanese)- I wish this were published in English. About $ 30 when you can find it.
Rate the Audiophile Publications
What's your experience with recommended (or trashed)systems in the audiophile publications (Stereophile, Absolute Sound, What Hi Fi...)? I just read a nice thread by Trgi@flash.net (gregg) asking about the highly rated BEL 1001 and he got a couple of negative replies. That got me to thinking -- which magazines (paper or online) are trustworthy according to fellow audiogoners? Any opinions or experiences? Everyone has a different ear, but are there obvious omissions or differences of experience? Thanks.