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Critic's Corner Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry. |
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In Reply to: Why TAS is starting to drive me away posted by daveg on May 27, 2004 at 12:49:11:
I agree, although with different reservations, which are:1) The intercommentary system, one of the very best features -- gone, gone, gone. The description of the sonics is observational, but the intercommentary system allows the second reviewer to add notes, and give his (subjective) responses as well. This is what separates scientific approaches from personal biases.
2) The lack of insight: TAS used to teach you how to listen to (through) equipment. They no longer do that.
3) The lack of a common vocabulary. Some of the language is confusing. Who among the current staff understands the true meaning of the term "continuous" for example?? (I mean, besides JV and the senior reviewers?) Clearly, some of the writers don't have a clue what HP's famous "continuousness" means. I do, because I owned the Defy 7, and that is the first component to listen to if you want to get an idea of the meaning of continuousness . Whoever reviewed the Hovland in TAS thought he understood the concept, but it was clear that later on, when HP commented on the reviewer's perceptions of what continuous is, he realizes that they are not discussing the same thing.The lack of commonality of vocabulary is disturbing. And that is part of what makes TAS less a "leader" in the field than once it was.
4) The "it's-as-good-as-I've-ever-heard" approach with out a long term reviewing, again, doing an intercommentary, is useless as an absolute statement. What was it HP once said? "Rudderless in a sea of relativity?" Who knows how much top equipment the reviewers have heard? If all the equipment they receive is in, say, the $3,000 range for say, digital, then their sense of what can be achieved with state-of-the-art components has no pespective. And if they've never heard HP's "super system," the chances of a clear perspective is zero. Precious little of the equipment discussions revlolve around a comparison to live music, save the reviews of Greene, Valin, HP, and Kaplan. (if others have been omitted, please excuse). It's just not a Golden Age at TAS anymore; it's just another "good" magazine, whereas it was once a genuine pioneer in the field. As one subscriber wrote, it's all review "lite," without the depth.Imagine if a component had no depth: it would be downgraded. I wonder how one would rate TAS, which displays little -- if any - depth itself. These days, that is. And the change is quite datable:directly after the arrival of the new publisher. It seems clear that TAS is being re-designed to return a profit, not to (simply) satisfy the serious music lover, as well as the audiophile.
I mourn this loss. They were once golden; now merely gold plated.
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Follow Ups
- Re: Why TAS is starting to drive me away - Ceres 08:29:08 05/28/04 (0)
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