I see the parallel, Keith, but don't quite wholly agree with it. I know the Wilson editors love Stereophile. Even Art Dudley loves Wilson now. For what it's worth, I started liking Wilson models other than Alexandria at the same time as Dudley. And although I like their latest generation, I do believe that there are better speakers that suit my preferences such as Vivid Giya and MBL for a lot less money than the Alexandria.
The Absolute Sound, however, is based on a reference of live music. The Magico standard, however, is to present everything on the recording. "Fidelity to master tapes" is how their promoter, Valin, calls it. I'm glad some people get off on it. A lot of these guys are reviewers who have forgotten what great music is all about. But it's their life.
To me personally, just because the detail is there and we hear it, doesn't mean we want to or need to focus on it. To me and to many non-Magico customers, our brain doesn't like that detail - as it distracts and diminishes the human experience by limiting our ability to transcend and connect with the music on a deeper level. Psychologists call this state of oneness with the music "a state of flow" which is the highest form of happiness humans can achieve.
However, Magico, to my ears, is the great flow destroyer. It's all about a "deeper understanding" of the music and the master tape. Instead, I want the gear designer to make design compromises to bring out the greatness in music. Here's a quote from Valin describing MBL before he took the job as the Magico rep (or something happened to his soul)
..."What made and makes the 101 Es such showstoppers is their uncanny ability to get the first step in enjoying music right. Before it does anything else (and it does many things else), music works on us physically. It excites us. Gets us moving. Starts our toes tapping and our butts wiggling and our arms and fingers waving like air-guitar players (or air conductors). When a performer or a hi-fi really allows us “into” the music and the music “into” us, we are always and only a half-step away from dancing and singing and sheer self-abandon. It’s one of the chief reasons why we listen..."
Great music thrills you. Puts a smile on your face. It moves you like nothing else. At the end, you don't remember how much money you had or how many bits you heard correctly. You remember the experiences that moved you and made you more human and made you appreciate life. I just don't get that feeling listening to Magicos. Neither did Valin at one point in his life, reviewing the 101 Xtremes:
...Sheer sonic excitement may not mean much to those joyless souls who want to hear a second-rate jazz vocalist or a third-rate performance of a Mahler symphony sound precisely as good or as bad as it did in the engineering booth on the day of a recording session; as for me, I still thrill to the thrill of getting goosebumps on my arms or feeling a chill run up my back when a stereo—a mere contraption playing back another mere contraption—captures the excitement of the real thing....
Again, nothing personal about Magico. I hope you enjoy every second of it if you own it, but it's not for everyone. It's not "The Best." It's just a different standard than the Absolute Sound.
