This months HI-FI Leaflet, sorry I meant HIFI WORLD

[Wakefield Turntables]

Is it me or is the content of hifi leaflet dropping as each month goes by? I must have counted 15 pages of the same content which gets published month in and month out. I think if you get rid of the adverts you'd be down to about 50 pages (and thats optimistic) :eek: I think the way forward for me now is simply to read the endless on-line reviews that appear on the various websites.

[MCRU]

Is it me or is the content of hifi leaflet dropping as each month goes by? I must have counted 15 pages of the same content which gets published month in and month out. I think if you get rid of the adverts you'd be down to about 50 pages (and thats optimistic) :eek: I think the way forward for me now is simply to read the endless on-line reviews that appear on the various websites.

You are not wrong, does anyone read the world standards section where they list the same kit every month?

[pjdowns]

You are not wrong, does anyone read the world standards section where they list the same kit every month?

Nope and have to say it is now beginning to get right up my nose!!! ... maybe have to have a rethink about this magazine going forward!!!

[MartinT]

I had a rethink many years ago and declined to continue purchasing it.

[pjdowns]

I had a rethink many years ago and declined to continue purchasing it.

Martin, I am seriously considering joining you on that one!

[Barry]

Like all of the audio magazines, nowadays, I will only buy an issue if there are at least a couple of articles of interest to me. HFW is no worse than any of the others, I browse them all in the newsagents.

The same policy applies to all the other magazines that cater to my interests: National Geographic, Jaguar Car magazine, as well as the many and various photography magazines.

[MartinT]

Yes, I used to take Scientific American and National Geographic, as well as all the hi-fi magazines, a photography mag and a powerboat mag. It became too much and I realised I was starting to stack them rather than read them fully.

[Marco]

...Jaguar Car magazine...

When are you going to treat yourself to one? And no, I don't mean the magazine! :eyebrows:

Forget what Dave says, mate... Life's too short (and there for living), so lighten that (big) bank balance a bit ;) and treat yourself to the car of your dreams!! :exactly:

Marco.

[Tarzan]

Gave up buying hifi rags a long,long time ago, due to, well too many reasons to list here, but Roy "Nordost" Gregory was a prime example, and found online forums such as AOS to be far more accurate and sincere, especially rooting out bargains and products that punch well above their weight, my SONY TA-F940R integrated being an example, as it basically got panned in Hi-fi Choice l am led to believe.

[jollyfix]

Andy you have just said everything i wanted to say. I found that in the end i was only interested in the letters pages in HFW. I get so much more from AOS.

[prestonchipfryer]

Had a browse of HFW in Smiths. Bloody awful compared to the past. And that world standards page etc. is years old and surely meaningless. IMO

[Wakefield Turntables]

The worlds standards pages have not been updated for several years it wouldn't be so bad if hey included new stuff. I also find the same old products and companies getting five stars which I find a little hard to swallow as I think every company must have a least one or two duff products every so often. I like MartinT decline to purchase the mag.

[Barry]

When are you going to treat yourself to one? And no, I don't mean the magazine! :eyebrows:

Forget what Dave says, mate... Life's too short (and there for living), so lighten that (big) bank balance a bit ;) and treat yourself to the car of your dreams!! :exactly:

Marco.

Maybe - but I'm not going to give up my subscription to "Leatherclad Nuns Monthly"

[bobbasrah]

Maybe - but I'm not going to give up my subscription to "Leatherclad Nuns Monthly"

Finally I discover who the other subscriber is.....

[Puffin]

I used to buy all the rags every month (god knows why in hindsight) It was not until I started making my own amps and tweaking DACs and CD players that I realised that nearly all reviews were meaningless as they very rarely take any internal shots, if they do there is little or no information about the internal components/configuration etc. The reviews are normally based on one persons views, with a system that is more often than not, not mentioned.

I think that latterly (some 5 years or so ago now)my magazine habit was a hang over from the days when I was in awe of absolutely anything hifi and I suppose it is an aspirational hankering that you may one day own some of these highly rated and mega expensive items. In reality it is often the "emperors new clothes" scenario, or stuff blinged and hyped to the max to justify the high price tags. The cost does not always mean that the internals are anything special.

[hifi_dave]

Nowadays, the mags often do show internal shots of products which usually prompts my question "how much ?".

For instance, I was recently perusing in a mag, the internals of an amp, which is about the same size as a Rega Brio-r with a similar layout and compnent count but...... it is 10 x the Brio-r cost at £5250. Why ? How ?

[bobbasrah]

....I think that latterly (some 5 years or so ago now)my magazine habit was a hang over from the days when I was in awe of absolutely anything hifi and I suppose it is an aspirational hankering that you may one day own some of these highly rated and mega expensive items. In reality it is often the "emperors new clothes" scenario, or stuff blinged and hyped to the max to justify the high price tags. The cost does not always mean that the internals are anything special.

100% spot on Rob... once you start tinkering and learning 'how to', the commercial offerings are exceptions rather than the rule, the hype is for others, you start to investigate the how...

[hifi_dave]

The worlds standards pages have not been updated for several years it wouldn't be so bad if hey included new stuff. I also find the same old products and companies getting five stars which I find a little hard to swallow as I think every company must have a least one or two duff products every so often. I like MartinT decline to purchase the mag.

'Standards' takes up 7 pages and 'Classics' is 6. So 13 pages of well out of date dross, repeated every month. Why ???

[Ammonite Audio]

I do seem to be buying HiFi+ via the Apple App Store on a regular basis. This is partly because of (in my view) much improved and readable content, but also the online price is only £2.50, which is on par with a good coffee, so why not? I don't mind at all seeing the update notification on the iPad for the next issue. Presumably, the publishers of HiFi+ get more revenue per sale via this route, than from the money grasping lowlife who run WH Smith these days. HiFi World can also be bought online, but through an awful interface which is clunky and not at all like flicking through actual pages - they have a lot to learn about aspirational publishing in the online age.

[pjdowns]

Maybe - but I'm not going to give up my subscription to "Leatherclad Nuns Monthly"

:rfl:

[Wakefield Turntables]

I do seem to be buying HiFi+ via the Apple App Store on a regular basis. This is partly because of (in my view) much improved and readable content, but also the online price is only £2.50, which is on par with a good coffee, so why not? I don't mind at all seeing the update notification on the iPad for the next issue. Presumably, the publishers of HiFi+ get more revenue per sale via this route, than from the money grasping lowlife who run WH Smith these days. HiFi World can also be bought online, but through an awful interface which is clunky and not at all like flicking through actual pages - they have a lot to learn about aspirational publishing in the online age.

I'd probably buy the mag again at the £2.50 price but only if the content was of some interest and you could save the contents to PDF.

[daytona600]

Quality seemed to drop once david price left , only skimmed the last few issues myself

[Marco]

Yup, but don't forget the influence of Adam Smith, too! ;)

Marco.

[The Outcast]

Indeed, fair comment Marco. I thought that Adam would have been a great editor. I still do. HFW seems to have lost it's way and straying from it's original qualities. I have every copy in my garage and scanning through some of the older copies they were great.

H

[hifi_dave]

I throw all my copies of HFW as I don't think they have any worth. I do save HFN, for reasons of 'tradition' right back to the first copy I bought in 1962..:wheniwasaboy:

IMO, Hi-Fi World has lost it's way with far too much digital audio and home cinema. That is not their core readership, who are analogue and valve people. If they stuck to that, some decent music reviews, a bit of DIY, some technical explanations and ditch the 13 pages of ancient listing, it might be a more interesting mag.

[walpurgis]

I still (at the moment) buy HFW each month, but throw them away once read. Though I do have a small collection of Hi-Fi mags going back to the eighties which I keep for their interesting articles.

[Beobloke]

Yup, but don't forget the influence of Adam Smith, too! ;)

Marco.

Cheers, Marco - cheque's in the post! :D

Interestingly, I was pondering about magazines over the weekend as I found myself sat on one of the "stranded bloke" chairs outside the changing rooms of a ladies' clothing emporium whilst Mrs B. had a fair crack at trying on everything in the shop.

Due to lack of 3G signal and the iPhone-based eBay and forum perusing possibilities this would have afforded, I found my eye drawn to an issue of Harper's Bazaar on the table beside the chairs with a rather attractive actress on the cover so decided to have a flick through it.

I really then wished I hadn't, as the magazine was full of adverts of ugly stick-thin women modelling items of clothing and related accessories that appeared to have been designed by the blind and that bore price tags resembling telephone numbers. Even worse, the magazine's index was on PAGE 39 and the first article was on PAGE 101!!! Then, when I did find an article, it went on for one page and then was "continued on page 327" - the last fifty or so pages of the magazine were actually just the end of articles that had been started throughout the rest of the magazine. Finally, when I did stumble on the article about the actress, not only was it largely full of text, but the few photographs of her were distinctly non-lingerie based. I was most disappointed.

Frankly, all you lot whining about current hi-fi magazines could have it far, far worse, believe me...

;)

[hifi_dave]

Frankly, all you lot whining about current hi-fi magazines could have it far, far worse, believe me...

;)

Agreed but the mags used to be so much better.

[Wakefield Turntables]

I throw all my copies of HFW as I don't think they have any worth. I do save HFN, for reasons of 'tradition' right back to the first copy I bought in 1962..:wheniwasaboy:

IMO, Hi-Fi World has lost it's way with far too much digital audio and home cinema. That is not their core readership, who are analogue and valve people. If they stuck to that, some decent music reviews, a bit of DIY, some technical explanations and ditch the 13 pages of ancient listing, it might be a more interesting mag.

Couldnt have put it better myself


Agreed but the mags used to be so much better.

Again spot on. I've only been into vinyl for ten years but there has been a massive drop in the quality in HFW as the years have gone on until ultimately I stopped buying it January this year.

[Clive197]

Quality seemed to drop once david price left , only skimmed the last few issues myself

PM SENT 5.20 on 16/09/2013

[Wakefield Turntables]

whats the relevancy of the last post:scratch:

[Clive197]

whats the relevancy of the last post:scratch:

The answer to that my friend is found in AV Displays/I Want This TV/posts 13-16 incl.

[Reffc]

Couldnt have put it better myself



Again spot on. I've only been into vinyl for ten years but there has been a massive drop in the quality in HFW as the years have gone on until ultimately I stopped buying it January this year.

+2