it is really strange, readers who tell me great things about av xpress are genuine music lovers and not hifi nuts. i guess the reason why music lovers like my mag is because it has good music contents and i don't dish out hardcore hifi stuff that would frighten them off. you know, music lovers don't touch the typical hifi mags.
on the other hand, the true hifi readers are crying out for more hardware contents like reviews and shoot-outs. i have to strike a balance here but i am all too willing to please. starting next issue, i will have a few reviews on hardware like cd players and cables. my condition for the dealers is they must first break-in for me cos i don't want to spend my expensive tubes for breaking-in.
sourcing for worthy reviewers in malaysia has been almost impossible. i am speechless as to why this is so. are people not confident of their english or they just don't see fun in the whole exercise? i now have to source elsewhere, from overseas and i have gotten a few responses, which is good.
i know i can't please all with av xpress. there are still dealers that complain about the lack of "thickness" of the mag. they don't seem to realize by virtue of it being free, i have a cost issue to control. some even suggest to me to cut and paste articles from internet just to make up the "thickness". ludicrous suggestions, i must say.
ultimately i can't stop emphasizing the importance of music over hifi. don't be a slave to hardware. your music must be better than your hifi.
infrequent updates
8 years ago
21 comments:
Fully agree with you.
on the other hand the only source of hardware review is the star,which is full of crap!!!That guy [you know who]doesn't know anything abt hi fi and yet ......enought said.You are much more credible Maggie.
It is the music that bring us to hi-fi but it is the hardware that make us ralize how wonderful[and expensive!!] this hobby can be..
above all it is a rewarding one
Is it possible to love hi-fi without music?
To me it is like body without heart
Dear Maggie,
Regarding your comment about not being able to find hifi reviewer locally, I'm actually interested to try my hand on it if you think it'd help AV Express and your blog site.
I live in BU, PJ, which should not be too far from your place.
Any way I can contact you to introduce myself?
Thanks.
Tan
hi mafan,
no comments on star. they have seen better days ;-)
hi tan,
god must be listening. call me 012-2083790. i have already got some gear lined up for review
In this part of the world the better reviewers are Chinese educated and write for the Chinese press...unfortunately ;-)
Some rare cases like Lil'KC are effectively bilingual, that's why he can write for Enjoy The Music now, though his standard of English is still not that on par with the likes of David Kan or Linnman, both Chinese guys who writes for 6moons, but hopefully he will reach there soon.
anonymous ,
I disagree with you ...
I see a lot of junk being written in the chinese hi-fi reviews.
I feel really sorry for the customers who do not know where to look for ,for good honest reviews.
that is why this blog is such a fresh air after the voodo propogated by the chinese press.
hi anonymous,
good english alone does not make a good reviewer. the reviewer must have good ears and has a certain level of experience in discerning makro and micro differences when changing equipment.
for a chinese-ed guy, little kc is improving at lightning speed. kan and linnman are probably ABC.
to me, many reviewers are prone to what the cantonese say "tai gang siu kwai" (get easily excited over small insignificant things).
David Kan and Linnman are not ABC, but are Hongkongers. David has migrated to Canada for a decase while Linnman is still staying in HK and frequents the Audioexotics forum in HK under pseudonymn Marvel. You can read about their profiles at
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/kan/kan.html
and
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/linnman/linnman.html
David Kan is good at exploring the cheap stuff like TrendAudio, Kingrex, JohnBlue speakers etc while Linnman discusses the elitist high end stuff like Wavac, Da Vinci, Zanden, Argento etc. So they kind of complement each other ;-)
Sorry meant to write a
"decade" and not "decase"
Also Linnman's truncated profile above should be
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/linnman/
linnman.html
Thanks for worshipping the western press, reviews in the western mags are also just as crap, don't believe, just run through the threads at this Critic's Corner forum to read about the cannot-see-daylight things that a lot of western reviewers do. Plagiarism, good reviews based on advertising fees or for exchange of free expensive equipment, you name it, they have it.
http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/
etv.mpl?forum=critics
When I say this part of the world, I also meant the HK/Taiwanese press where they really open up the cover to expose the Pioneer DVD mechanism behind a Goldmund, Edge and Bladelius ultra expensive universal player. With the exception of 6moons and Dagogo, most western reviews do not even talk about what goes inside the equipment so as to reveal its inner beauty or inner horrors ;-)
oh, if they are hongkongers, then i know who they are cos i read a lot of hk hifi mags in the 90s and their names are often mentioned.
Anonymous ,
I do not know which western magazine that you are referring to? Most of the magazines[Stereophile etc ]elaborate in details about the constructions etc of the hardware.
Every body know for vexample that Meridian use dvd-rom[and so do a lot of manufacturers now] but there has been almost universal agreement that Meridian makes amongst the best digital front.period.
There are more to hi-fi than ,how it looks inside,and just becuse Bladieus happen to use pioneer mechanism ,doesn't mean that it sound like pioneer ....
Hi Anonymous, I think you are mistaken. Linnman does not go by a pseudnymn Marvel. Marvel is a high ender in Hong Kong with Kondo M77 preamp. Look at the picture in 6moons roadtour to Hong Kong. Link below
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/audioexotics/audioexotics.html
Sorry, here is the link again
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/
audioexotics/audioexotics.html
Jack
Check out this thread, you will see pictures of Goldmund,Edge,Bladelius, which are lifted from some HK/TW magazines. They are not merely using just a Pioneer mechanism but the whole thing in their boxes. They only add a nice cover and a bigger transformer for better power supplies. Even the goldmund remote is a rebadged pioneer. In this hobby, just like wine tasting, the more expensive it is, the user will think it is better. But when you stare at the insides, one will be probably devastated when you see how much "brand-innovation" is done on the Pioneer mechanism..
http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/
index.php?topic=53100.0
If you can excuse this kind of blatant cover-up, anybody can sell you expensive stuff with nice cosmetics forget the insides.
To gck, you are correct, I am wrong. Marvel is Marvel, Linnman is Linnman. They are very good friends, and Marvel always mention Linnman in his postings until I mistook who is who.
You can google with these words
linnman site:http://www.audioexotics.hk
/forum.php
and you will find Marvel talking about Linnman a lot ...
to anonymous.
thank you.
very good thread
gck,
Any interests to be a reviewer? I am sure you can do it.
Looking for foreign talent too...
http://www.audioasylum.com
/cgi/vt.mpl?f=news&m=294
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