solid, dependable reviews

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An Excellent Magazine

The Absolute Sound is an outstanding magazine for the serious audio enthusiast. There are two main reasons why I would recommend this magazine.
The first and (to me most important) reason is that this magazine looks at the US market. Components available here are reviewed and rated according to their US price levels. Most of the high fi magazines out there today are from the UK and carry reviews and ratings based on that market. Since relative prices for the same components can be different across the pond, the ratings (which always take the price point of the component into account - eg no $500 amplifier can sound anything but bad next to something 20 times its price) in the UK magazines aren't always a good reference for US readers. Another point of difference is that that certain brands aren't available in both markets - Klipsch, Polk and Theil speakers being examples of items common in the US but not in the UK.
The second reason to recommend this periodical is that it reviews the sonic quality of items in terms serious listeners cannderstand. Audio components and recordings are described as they would sound. The dense technical descriptions and tests are omitted here, since not everyone (myself included) can fully understand them. The descriptions of how you would percieve the sound is what they pay attention to, and pay attention to well.
Add to the above factors the range of products (though as other reviewers have mentioned, the universe of products they examine is very limited compared to the overall electronics market), the honesty and accuracy of the reviews and you have a magazine that is a good read for anyone interested in Hi-Fi.

Very High End Audio Information

This review is not intended to be worthy of its subject, but I'm surprised no one else has proferred, so here is some brief comment, until a more educated audio reader comes along (hopefully soon).

I first picked up this magazine at Tower Records last year. It only comes out once every couple of months, it is expensive, and it is thick. You will not be done getting everything out of it in just one or two brief readings. If you are "into" audio, or if you have really caught the bug, this is a magazine that will help you define the unatainable heights.... the super-expensive Ferrari-level equipment that few of us will ever own but is fun to read about. I also have found in reading just two or three issues that there are sometimes highly educational pieces that really delve into important current topics in-depth.

Absolute Sound is a sort of no-compromises, not-going-to-cave-in to the latest industry fad magazine, and in a way it's kind of offensive because most of us need or want to hear about the latest industry gizmos and many of us don't want a cost-no-object assessment for our purchases.

But the strong point of Absolute Sound is the real commitment to trying to discern the very best Sound, with cost being more-or-less not so much of an object.

There is also of course some review of music and recordings, as there should be.

I've found AS to be educational and so I recommend it, particularly for those who are well-heeled enough to afford the best Sounding components and recordings, or who have a super-interest in reading about them.