At the start of the month, after more than a few cartridges-at-dawn duels between our reviewers, we asked you, our discerning readers, to settle a key debate for us: do aesthetics matter with hi-fi, or is audio quality the be-all and end-all?
Sound is your primary concern
A few very opinionated outliers apart, nearly all responders reported loud and clear that audio quality is the biggest thing you care about when buying hi-fi.
The chorus started with What Hi-Fi? top fan, John McKelvey, who succinctly commented on our Facebook page: “Who listens with their eyes?”
Things escalated when a number of you took things a step further, arguing you actually prefer your hi-fi to look understated and not draw attention to itself. Facebook follower Marc Bungener said:
“You’d want speakers to integrate in your room in a nice way. [For example] I choose a colour that reflects light and makes them appear smaller than they are. But I dislike flashy McIntosh blue light and purchased Bryston monoblocs instead.
Marc added: “Ergonomics [are] also important: I want the volume button to be the largest rotating knob and find that some stupid designers made two identical-sized rotating buttons, one for level, the other for source. The worst is that they get paid to design something in a stupid way.”
Numerous others agreed, including Facebook follower, Moth Wingthane, who told us, “I prefer plain boxes and a dead front design.”
Reader John Beverley added that even if they look nice in a catalogue or online, the cabling required to get them running means they won’t keep their visual allure long in the real world, commenting: “Hi-fi ads for top-end kit never show the cable spaghetti.”
But you don’t mind if it looks pretty as well – especially on two key items
Despite your unified position that sound quality comes first, many of you did caveat that with the comment that good looks are a welcome bonus – and a potential differentiator when choosing between two equally good-sounding products.
This was initially expressed by reader Phil Dis, who detailed how aesthetics helped him decide between two stellar-sounding turntables.
“Visual aesthetics matter, but not at the cost of sound quality. My approach is generally to shortlist the products that sound best in class and, given the small performance gap, choose the more visually pleasing device for my setup,” he wrote.
“On this basis, I chose a Technics SL-1500C over a Rega Planar 3 RS. I know the Rega has a more pleasing sonic signature, but the Technics is not that far behind and has so much more going for it in ease of use (and crucially, my wife preferred how the Technics looked).”
This was part of a wider trend, with many readers flagging premium turntables as one of two categories where they view good looks as being a particularly big plus point, despite the fact that audio quality is their main concern.
Facebook follower, Ian Swift, kicked off the trend, commenting: “Speakers and record decks only; anything else, I don't care if they’re even seen as long as they sound fantastic.”
AndyC405 then added that this is particularly true in the higher end of the market, commenting:
“I think the more you spend, the more you should expect your kit to look individual. Turntables are my big bugbear – so many of them are a black plank of wood (or composite), with a black arm attached [...] I can accept that a [turntable] below, say €500 might be a bit plain, but once you start spending more money, you should expect something more pleasing [to] the eye.”
Our hot take
In general, we agree with you that looks play second fiddle to performance when picking hi-fi. In fact, if you look at our how we test guide, you’ll see we generally put performance, value for money, usability and build quality at the forefront of all our buying advice.
If we’re comparing two rivals that cost the same, but one product sounds significantly better than another, 99 per cent of the time, we will recommend the one offering better audio.
That doesn’t mean we don’t factor in aesthetics. If we have two products that sound equally great, cost the same and target the same market, it is a differentiator we mention and factor into our advice. But, ultimately, given the subjective nature of “looks” in general, we take the other aforementioned factors as being more important.
MORE:
These are the best turntables we have tested
We rank the best speakers money can buy
Our picks of the best stereo amplifiers
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
