I have read both TAS and Stereophile for over 20 years. The quick answer is that Stereophile is much stronger on equipment and at best mediocre on music, the best music overview they do is a feature called Records to Die for once a year or so. On equipment they are much better due in part to John Atkinson's measurements, so in addition to reviewer opinions you get some insight into the actual engineering quality of the product. The two do not always coincide, and if like me you have no interest in a product that some reviewer likes but measures as of borderline competence in design, then you will like Stereophile. For example, while Wes Phillips liked the Transporter a great deal what you can see in the measurements is that it is clearly a state-of-the-art DAC design and measured, at least as I read the results, better overall than a much more expensive Naim CD player they also gave a positive review to. The Absolute Sound provides no measurements or insight into engineering design, with the occasional exceptions of Robert Greene on speakers and room correction devices, and Robert Harley, the editor himself, who clearly has some technical training. However, their music section is much better. Bob Genredon is the music editor and an interesting popular music critic in his own right. While still not the same as reading Paste or some of the online music sights like Pitchfork, TAS provides good music overview not just in pop/rock but also jazz and classical. Therefore, I end up reading both. Hope that helps.
-- rplert Randy Lert Linn LP12, Transporter, Linn Sondek CD12, Ayre C5xe, VTL 7.5 Reference Line Stage, Ayre P5xe phone stage, Ayre V1 amplifer, Vandersteen 5A speakers ------------------------------------------------------------------------ rplert's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=8358 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33399 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
