The Audiophiliac is on hiatus
Steve Guttenberg’s long-running Audiophiliac column is taking a breather.
Steve with a PSB Imagine Mini speaker
The Audiophiliac is 12 years old -- that's a good long run, and this blog has been the most satisfying gig in my writing career. I came to CNET long before that, focusing on reviews and articles here and there, but the Audiophiliac was more personal, covering a wider range of subjects and ideas than my other pieces for CNET.
The Audiophiliac started as a five-episodes-a-week series, and for the first few months it was a mighty tough assignment coming up with quality articles at that pace, but once I got a rhythm going, I never looked back. Until now.
I was on a crusade to elevate the listening experience, and I had faith that better-sounding audio would pull music out of the background and make it impossible to ignore. Once you start giving music your undivided attention, the more you'll care about it -- and the sound of your music. One feeds the other.
Two years ago I started the Audiophiliac Daily Show on YouTube, and now I want to devote more time to that project (the channel has no affiliation with CNET). This much was obvious from the start: making videos exercises very different creative muscles than writing about audio.
Interviews with audio designers and fellow audiophiles make more sense as videos than they do as transcribed text. Ditto for show reports, audio store visits and other on-location videos.
The Audiophiliac blog has meant so much to me, and I thank CNET for giving me that soapbox; high-end audio never before had that level of sustained exposure to the wider world. I was on a mission to "grow" new audiophiles by turning CNET readers on to not just insanely expensive high-end audio, but also far more affordable, but off-the-mainstream companies like Audeze, Schiit and Zu Audio.
My 12-year stint writing the Audiophiliac blog was an incredible journey, and collaborating with CNET editors Ty Pendlebury, John Falcone, David Katzmaier, David Carnoy and Michael Sorrentino was deeply satisfying. Thanks, guys!
I'm not sure what the future holds, or whether I will return to CNET in 2020, but for now, you can catch my work on the Audiophiliac Daily Show on YouTube.