2. amps-preamps
  3. 165351-94555

Stereophile's 2021 products of the year



  And wow! Schiit Audio 20w Class-A Aegir stereo poweramp made it into the A rating. 
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/stereophile-s-2012-products-of-the-year
Cheers George
128x128georgehifi
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi OP
10,312 posts
 
@georgehifi - the measurements can be useful and I’m glad that Stereophile takes the time to do them, but they don’t tell the whole story. That’s why subjective reviews exist and are generally useful.

They actually tell more than 50% of the story.

And "if" the reviewer "was truthful", the measurements "can" explain why he may say
EG: say the bass sounded a little thick and uncontrolled,
measurements may show poor damping factor (high output impedance) poor current ability.

Or the highs of an amp sound distant and recessed,
measurement could show early rolloff in the HF because of poor HF bandwidth extension even phase shift, or inability to handle low impedances creating it to become a tone control, like the bass problem above.

So many things can be read into an amps potential performance by looking at the measurements.

After all, every amp ever made was designed and made primary by using measurements and the laws of electronics, if you find one that wasn’t, then your looking at a piece of unreliable junk.
There is no "snake oil" or "voodoo" in the design of high end audio, or even low end mp3 players.

Cheers George
cakids
166 posts
 
Stereophile and TAS reviews are way more credible than the opinions expressed in this forum. All three can be useful, however. The fourth source, of course, is direct listening at a dealer. But dealer equipment is limited, and dealers are rare in some areas. As a member of LAOCAS, I get to hear equipment every month at a different LA area dealer. (Befoe Covid, that is.)I will admit that my very latest acquisitions were from forum suggestions.
Just let your ears and wallet be your final guide.
jwcondo
10 posts
 
Stereophile's Recommended list was something I so looked forward to receiving and reading over and over....learned a lot over the years.
I just received the latest and it is pathetic, mostly their advertisers....ZERO integrity remaining at Stereophile.
My biggest beef is how many "Golden Ear" products can they possibly list???? I have heard their products, good but not great and their subs pale in comparison to my JL f-112 or e-112.
End rant.
papafrgog
101 posts
 

@georgehifi - I find it very sad that most of the Stereophile basher’s here, are also too technically inept to understand the measurements.


George, I admit I don't understand how many technical measurements translate to (or create) something audible to me.  I wish I did, because about the most I can do it to compare measurements between components I'm interested in - and compare to those I own, since I know how my system sounds.

The flaw in my analysis (like someone mentioned above about a "who's who" system that didn't sound great) is it ignores any synergy between components, or in my mind, how one component's measurements can capture the best qualities of another.  I guess it's years of experience listening,  comparing measurements, and knowing (and being honest about) sound preferences in the context of budget. 

I would love some tutorial on the most important measures for primary components and how they link - e.g. impedance/loading MC cartridge to phono pre - line stage...etc.  And if stuff like that isn't really important, I need to know that too. 

I do so much reading in work, when I'm done, all I want to do is listen to music.......

 I know I'm off topic. But many aspects of this post to consider.


millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
I would love some tutorial on the most important measures for primary components and how they link - e.g. impedance/loading MC cartridge to phono pre - line stage...etc. And if stuff like that isn’t really important, I need to know that too.

Gotcha covered.

The most important measurements are speaker sensitivity and cartridge output. Get those right and you can safely ignore all the others they will have zero impact on your ability to create a fantastically musically satisfying system. Don’t believe me? Come and hear mine.   https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367   

Speaker sensitivity matters because you can use it to screen out speakers that will be hard (read, expensive) to drive. Anything much below 92dB you are better off to leave for others. There are so many fantastic speakers 95dB and up, they all can be driven beautifully with anything from a handful of watts and up. This one measurement, speaker sensitivity, eliminates all concern over how many watts your amp has, whether it is tube or SS, impedance, all that jazz. Drives people who spent years memorizing all this stuff batty to think all they had to do was avoid anything under 92. Oh well. Their problem. Not mine. Not yours either, if you follow this most important of all advice.

Cartridge output matters for the same reason. This more than anything else determines what phono stage you will be able to use, whether or not it will need a step up transformer, how easy or hard (read, expensive) it will be to find a good quality low noise phono stage, on and on.

That’s it. All the rest is window dressing and bragging rights. Guys love to toss the word salad, pour on the dressing. Watch. Pages will follow! Speaker sensitivity. Cartridge output. All else is noise.

More to discover