I can't trust magazine reviews anymore.

[Jon Weaver]

I read with interest in a certain popular audio magaize (the 2001 awards issue) that the Marantze 4100 OSE got "Product Of The Year"

Its £400 and they claim that its audio capability is as good as similar priced CD player.

This is interesting news and after visiting a 'Severn Oaks' found that since the review, they are selling them by the van load. So much so that they wouldn't even get one out of the box to let me see it as "They are sell themselves, and once they get one out, they won't be able to sell it"

So, I got interested and tried to find one to demo.

Richer Sounds are hoping to get some tommorow and I was planning to take a look.

But today another popular audio magaize is out.

Its doing a review of 10 DVD players.

The Pioneer 545 got a reasonable review.. But, the same Mirantz got slated.

And I mean really slated.

Of course both the magazines are baised towards audio, but they both have contradictory reviews.

How can one say that its brilliant and go as far as giving it 'product of the year'.. Where as the other gives it 2 stars.

I could understand if one raved and the other said that it was OK.. But to have totally oposite reviews doesn't make sence.

It certainly makes you think about how much faith you should put in reviews.

Obviously this doesn't apply to HCC reviews

[chicken balti]

Thats what the forums are for. To cut out the magazine bullsh*t and give it to you straight from like minded enthusiasts and folk that actually own and live with this stuff.

[Ian J]

I have been reading the popular AV mags for about five years and have found that they have never agreed on anything.

If I was cynical which of course I am not I would be interested in a correlation between rating given and amount of advertising (past and future)in mag.

Ian

I have the normal Marantz 4100 (350 Irish punts)and must say that at the price that I paid it would be hard to beat.
The sound is, as you would expect, not as good as a CD player of the same price, but it is much better that most DVD players and is good enough to be the CD player on my second system.
The picture is good and the second SCART is a godsend, as nearly all TV´s have only one RGB input.
The mag that I read said that the 400 pound 4100se was as good as a 300 pound CD player which even if it is a bit of an exageration is not bad compared to other players.
Take the reviews with a pinch of salt and use them as one source of information only then you should be OK.

Buying new equipment on the premise of a good review is not a good idea.

What Hi-fi and Hifi Choice have rarely ever agreed....

By all means use "reviews" as a guideline or for a short-list.

A demo or even a home-demo is your best bet.

[Matt F]

You beat me to it Jon - I was going to start a new thread on this very subject. I too picked up a copy of HiFi Choice and thought let's see what they think of the Marantz 4100 OSE. Before I read the article, and bearing-in-mind what What HiFi said about it, I was expecting 4/5 or something. But NO, as you said they really slated it and gave it 2/5.

Of the two publications, I always favour HiFi Choice for audio reviews because they do blind listening tests i.e. they get a panel of expert listeners in and play them all the different CD/DVD players they are reviewing that month but the players themselves can't be seen - they just listen and then say what they think. They then repeat the exercise in a different order to give a better balance i.e. so that you don't always get the £200 model following the £800 model as this isn't really fair on the former.

Try as we might I think we are swayed by appearances and reputations - if you reviewed a good midrange player, say a Sony 735 and someone then swapped it for an Alba (which was actually a Sony 735 with an Alba front panel on it) I fancy you'd end up saying "the Alba's pretty good but it's not quite as good as the Sony". I can just imagine the What HiFi lot drooling over the Marantz saying "with Marantz's reputation this one's bound to be good with CDs" etc.

If you want further proof of What HiFi's inconsistency check out their summaries of the REL Q200E and Q201E - for the latter they say "Better, more musical sub than the Q200E...". The actual difference between the two subs? The Q201 comes with a protective grille - that's it - other than that they're identical!

What's really worrying is the power that What HiFi has - they say "player of the year", "best buy" or whatever, and there's a queue of punters at Sevenoaks HiFi, credit cards in hands and they're not even interested in auditioning it - scary really especially as we're not talking about a budget player here - these people should know and demand better.

At the end of the day it's down to us as the customer to audition the kit ourselves. If every magazine review is 5 stars then chances are it's a pretty good piece of gear but you still ought to have a listen yourself just to make sure that YOU actually like it and that it works well with the rest of your kit. Magazine reviews can be useful in getting a shortlist together but logically, as far as audio is concerned, it makes a lot more sense to use your ears as opposed to your eyes.

[Reiner]

Since we are on the subject of WHF ever seen them giving anything less than 4 stars? Barely.

While the mag is good to see what's new and the reviews give you a very rough guideline don't take their word for it, especially not in the AV department - that has never been their strength.

Besides, in the end you must decide for yourself, don't trust the magazine, don't listen to us - narrow down what the mag or others recommend and then audition (listen, listen, listen) yourself and decide according to your budget and liking.

[General Skanky]

WHF change opinion like the wind if you have read it for long enough!
Example, about 3 years ago Kimber power leads were given 1 star and dismissed out of hand. Now, 'WOW', how great.
If you go back over the years the inconsistencies are too numerous to mention.
Plus, if you are Marantz, Arcam, Nad, Mission and the like, you do well over at WHF towers. Funny that.

As for HiFi Choice.....I always liked the mag and still subscribe, just!
They've changed tune from stereo is God and nothing else to, well actually we have advocated AV all along. Plus their AV reviews area bout as useful as a lighthouse in the desert. Take their review of the Yamaha A1 a few months back compaerd to a review of it in HCC for example. It makes me weep.

WHF lost my subscription ages ago. HiFi Choice I meant to cancel a little while back are about to lose me now just having read their latest drivel. Only the tech articles and the odd multi unit testing interest me now.

So really I'm left with HCC. Now does that make me a bitter and biased reader or just switched on and know waht I like???

[CJROSS]

General S.

I share your dispair at the Mag reviews, I subsribe to both WHF and HFC and I can only say that WHF is a total joke as far as the hi-fi community is concerned (although its good for the ads & sales at the back - which is why I get it), I'd take more notice of HFC as they at least do blind listening tests with a panel. Yes the mags are always going, the other thing that WHF dfoes is that the manufaccers who post adverts in the mag always seem to get rave reviews and by that I would use Marantz, NAD & Mission as examples. If your serious about HCC stick with HCC which is regarded as the best HC review mag by a lot of people, i get it when I need HC advice. I remember the reviews of the Pioneer 717 in WHF when it first came out, they said it could hold its own against similarly priced CD players, 1 year later the same mag says that £200 CD players outperformed it - yeah right total horseplops.

Out of interest I passed my local Sevenoaks today and the pride of place in the window was taklen up by a Bush £200 DVD player - good to see their pushing high quality technology.

CJ

[CJROSS]

I forgot to say us 2 channelrs cant believe how much the mags WHF/HFC have gone down the multichannel route - i mean this months HFC has DVD players and MC set-ups oh I nearly forgot some Tuners as well, not really hi-fi stereo in my book. Its all about readership and bandwagons to jump on.

By the way the X-24K Dac is doing storming duties in the home HiFi setup.

CJ