Stereophile's 2021 products of the year

Absolutely. Being on the list or not matters to Stereophile readers and it can make or break a product’s success.

Hence the Checks.

Kinda like making the Hollywood A-List in terms of acting credibility

Kessler has a pathological hatred of anything Linn or Naim. They obviously must have had some sort of contratemps in the past, because he becomes mentally unhinged whenever their names are mentioned.

Mention Marantz and he can‘t stop the sycophantic platitudes. Mention Ken Ishiwata and he loses the plot.

WRT to measurement based assessment. I can recall instances where Stereophile reviewers have waxed lyrical over a product, only to have Atkinson pull out a pretty woeful set of measurements.

Border Patrol springs to mind. Class A recommended
There are others.

Either Stereophile reviewers are imbeciles with cloth ears, taking bribes or:

1. Measurements don‘t necessarily correlate with subjective listening impressions.
2. You also need a pair of ears to successfully design an audio component.

The ATC SCM11 V2 has been an absolute no- brainer in its price class for a long time (and not just in my opinion). I don‘t know whether it has made the Stereophile recommended list at some time, but if it hasn‘t I think gpgr4blu may have quite possibly made a salient point.

It‘s one thing publishing a good review, it‘s another making the list, which as a previous poster correctly noted, acts as a buying guide for many consumers. No list, no interest from the dealers. Shame really.

Then why should we place faith in other Stereophile reviews?

You need to understand the measurements also, that way you can form a judgement if the reviewer is full of it or not.
If you don't understand the measurements as well your just p*****g into the wind.

Cheers George

I understand the measurements implicitly, it‘s just that one‘s own philosophy as to how far certain measurements correlate with subjective listening results will normally determine how ’full (or empty) of it‘one determines the reviewer to be. So this becomes a rather subjective process. Which is fine by me.

Or do do you believe in absolutes? In which case it is very easy to identify ’full of it’ reviewers (possibly even creating a ’fulness’ score for each reviewer) and by extrapolation disqualify their future reviews from garnering any credibility.

that measures like ****

Thank you for the precise definition. All is now very clear.

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/diy/0709/flesh_blood.htm

Written by the same guy who gave the gushing Stereophile review on the Schiit. Wonder how this baby measures? Anyone with experience would have a pretty good idea. We‘re talking percentages here at LF guys, and there‘s even more bad news. A 300B SET that measures well is practically an oxymoron.

It‘s up to you whether that makes him a bad reviewer who‘s opinion on the Schiit probably sucks.

S‘funny- If you were asking around for an amp that measured really badly, you would probably be recommended a single ended triode. On the other hand, if you were to ask a group of hard core audiophiles where the real audio magic lay you would probably get the same answer.

not all hard core audiophiles that understand measurements

Some of them probably understand a lot more about measurements than you.do. I wonder whether Herb does?

I think Herb knows a thing or two about how to actually interpret measurements, rather than make sweeping blanket statements. Read his design article. The finished item certainly wouldn‘t measure well by the criteria you espouse, yet he seems pretty happy with the sound.

And yet you certainly didn’t seem to take issue with his Stereophile review of the Aegir, which is really what this thread is all about.

Could Herb have got it wrong?

We agree on something, they go hand in hand, and reviewers who really know how to INTERPRET them - ie what really affects the sound and what does to a lesser degree are the ones, like Herb, whom I really respect. When designing his amp he knew which parameters needed to be spot on and which could be relaxed a bit. That’s called experience.

 if you want to believe elsewise

sorry, don’t get it.........

I concur. My fully regulated JLH69 still sounds absolutely wonderful 51 years post design. I would loved to have had a good example of this classic compared with the aegir on SQ grounds so I could use it as a yardstick. If the aegir were to prove significantly better, I would obviously be very interested.

Comparing it with other amplifiers I know would give me similar insight.

Get some horns, let ya hair down and rock the house. You‘ve got to have one pair, even if not for anything else but to punish your neighbours.

I own two components on the Stereophile A list. However, I still have a problem with its commercially driven content and the insidious manner in which it influences consumer spending and dealer‘s decision making.

There are some things that got on there, like the Exposure 2010S, which beggar belief. I know I had one, and the old Farlowe XV super stomped it in terms of music making. Personally, I would have given it a borderline B, with the caveat that it isn‘t the most musically engaging of amplifiers out there.

I have no opinion as I have not read the review, however it may be sample variation, as you have surmised, because Stereo Magazine found that it measured well

https://stereo-magazine.com/archive/articles?tx_archive_pi1%5Baction%5D=download&tx_archive_pi1%5Barticle%5D=69341&tx_archive_pi1%5Bcontroller%5D=Archive&cHash=b63605b6cab9c40ddc6dbc5e2d1dd3ed

‘Low distortion, low noise, high bandwidth and
an enormous attenuation factor for a tube amplifier.’

Hope this helps.

Did they measure-the same one they reviewed?

I think Jim Austin gave a pretty good account of the design intent: ie deliberately eschewing feedback in the interests of improved SQ into tube friendly speakers - rather than designing a panacea for all speakers. It‘s also interesting to note that Jim confirms that an amp that measures worse (ie without feedback) can actually sound better.

He also made the interesting point that some speakers like to see high output impedances. From memory, I think these these mainly fall into the single driver category. Speaker matching is always important to a certain degree.