A proposal: the Objectivist Audio Review magazine

[christopher3393]

"I’m being more than a little snarky here, but if you guys want a magazine or website that is truly objectivist and as unbiased as possible here is the way to do it. It wouldn't be ad supported, it have have no industry ties, it wouldn't be dependent on manufacturer loans, and the reviewers wouldn't be old guard, entrenched men. It would rely on blind tests and measurements to serve the subscribers." --- Steve Guttenberg

 

 

Interested in having a critical, reasonable discussion of the content of this video in particular. Steve raises a number of questions and doubts. I think this could be a good place to address some of these particulars.

[christopher3393]

1 hour ago, wgscott said:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php

 

Thanks. Wasn't aware that ASR is a already a good approximation of what Steve is basically saying.  Steve is also not so subtly suggesting that this proposal is totally unrealistic. In the form he presented it, it is unrealistic. 

 

 

 

[christopher3393]

2 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Let's. not make this thread another referendum on ASR/Amir. We've beat that horse too many times around here. 

 

+1

[christopher3393]

7 minutes ago, Jud said:

What I'd really love to see are reviews that are critical and entertainingly written (that was The Absolute Sound for about 5 minutes in the early days before it took advertising)

 

Is taking advertising generally harmful to the critical quality of an audiophile mag.? Is suspicion of bias the greatest problem with accepting (or even soliciting) advertising? Is this more an issue of reader perception than of actually affecting reviews with biases?

 

 A somewhat related issue: what are the pros and cons of long term loans? Do these usually go hand in hand with advertising?

[christopher3393]

33 minutes ago, crenca said:

This is @christopher3393thread however and he may be perfectly fine with the last several pages of posts.

 

Sorry, Crenca. I'm quite aware of this and have been ambivalent, not sure to what extent it might be helpful concrete example.

I've been struck by a number of posts. I keep noting the distance between how members perceive/understand the adequacy of measurements. I think we can all say that measurements are good and even necessary, at the very least for the manufacturer. There seems to be a big difference in how far they can take you toward a sound quality evaluation. 

So how do we name this: is it "season to taste" or " the recipe is just a foundation"?  How much of this falls under "taste" ?

 

 

[christopher3393]

Can we move further  LUSH conversation elsewhere, please? Thanks.

[christopher3393]

22 minutes ago, Shadders said:

Are people going to get together and create a publication ?

 

No, I don't think anyone is actually proposing that.

 

One issue that hasn't come up, and that wasn't raised by Steve Guttenberg, is the role of music, music listening, and music reviews in this hypothetical magazine. It is often stated and widely accepted that the enjoyment of music is a common goal of this hobby. Sometimes one even sees reference to a  division between 2 hobbies,  the equipment hobby and the music hobby, one very much more objective, and the other finally as fundamentally subjective. I see overlapping grey areas in between these, and am wondering how others see this.