The Times… and Change
As instigator and editor-in-chief of HifiZine, I’m occasionally reminded that I’m obliged to set the direction for this venture. It’s not supposed to be all fun and games! This became apparent when Mark Marcantonio contacted me a few months back about a merger with Affordable$$Audio. What would that mean? At the time, I had absolutely no idea.
Let’s just backtrack a little. I started HifiZine as a way to provide an outlet for high-quality (but down-to-earth) written output about the audio/hifi hobby. I’ve spent a lot of time on forums over the last decade or so, and I’ve had a few goes at blogging too. But I wanted something a bit more… substantial? permanent? HifiZine is my effort to create that, for myself and for anyone that has the same urge to write and express their experiences in this hobby.
So, fast-forwarding to today – with prompting from Mark and Patrick Dillon, HifiZine has now become the vehicle for the writers from Affordable$$Audio, as well as those already with HifiZine. Because of my own inclinations and predilections, HifiZine had a tendency towards technical and DIY articles; but now with the reviews element provided by Affordable$$Audio, this fledgling web publication will be more balanced and informative for a broader range of readers.
Jeff Brown has come over to HifiZine as reviews editor, and Patrick Dillon, Peter D’Amario, Jake Montzingo, and Stew Nellis will be writing reviews, as well as articles in other departments. I’m very pleased with the expanded format in this issue. I’ve created a topic specifically to obtain reader feedback on this first combined issue here – please feel free to provide constructive feedback to the editors and writers.
While editing the articles for this issue, I was struck by the contrast between the DAC reviews and the phono-related reviews. Could two source technologies possibly be more different? The DAC reviews from Patrick and Jake reminded me of the inexorable advancement of semi-conductor technologies. Moore’s Law doesn’t apply to the field of audio as aggressively as it does to computers; but it still does apply. As semiconductor development proceeds apace, I expect digital technology to not only provide endless hours of entertainment – for those who wish to explore the impacts of technology on our hobby – but to broaden the appeal of our hobby. I read, from time to time, diatribes about the demise of high-end audio, and I cannot help but wonder. Change is inevitable; just think about the Internet 20 years ago… oh wait, it didn’t exist then!
In the reviews in this inaugural combined edition, I feel that we’ve not just touched on, but put our grubby fingers squarely and firmly on the heart of our hobby: listening to music that we love, through the broadest range of and most intriguing types of equipment that we can lay our hands on. And of course, for those who like to get their fingers really grubby, we have a pretty good selection of technical and DIY articles in this issue as well. I look forward to many more issues.
By the way… we’re still looking for more writers! You don’t have to be a reviewer. If you’re into this hobby in a big way, and want to write about it, please drop us a line. You can focus on a specific area, whether it be reviews, interviews, DIY, or music – it’s up to you. Just be prepared for an adventure.
Image credit
The image used in this article is part of an image illustrating a printed-circuit board, with which most electronics components are built. The image is in the public domain and was obtained from the WikiMedia Commons.
