It is a great pleasure, but also an obligation to choose from the tested devices those, which – are in our opinion – especially worth recommending. But there is an issue with that. Like I wrote before to the distributors and manufacturers of the recommended products, those are never easy decisions and simple choices – we cannot award everybody, who we would like to, because then we would have to give awards to almost all devices we tested. To have the Awards of the Year 2010 make sense, we had to make selections and choose the best of the best. And that is it. And it does not mean, that the loudspeakers and electronics that did not receive an award are bad - by all means not. I write from time to time, that we pick for testing and publication only the devices, that interest us, and the readers. Usually there are eight tests in each issue of the “High Fidelity”, so we can easily calculate, that this means ninety six tests (products) a year. In fact there is a little less, because among the published materials there are also reportages from audio shows, Cover of the Year contest, etc. And each year there are hundreds, or even thousands, devices to test, and each and every one of those is special, and worthwhile, at least according to their distributors.

So the choice of devices for testing is a subjective thing, and depends mostly on what the magazine is interested in. This means, that it depends on me. I will not cover it up, because I don’t have to – the magazine is a reflection of mostly my fascinations, allowing for some of Marek Dyba. I think, that only an authorial magazine makes sense, as only then it can be honest and authentic. And the readers know what to expect – nobody pretends that the test is done by the “editorial office”, the “magazine”, etc, but by a real person. In my opinion this is a big asset.
Anyway, when we select a small part of the already selected, chosen products (Marek also selected a few) we have to face very difficult decisions. Why this DAC is better than the other one? In what? Is it better to award the cheaper product, or the hi-end one? Is the CD a “dead end” product and as such should we stop promoting it? Those are only a few from the questions we need to answer.

The process of selection looks always the same: I sit down (we sit down, but separately) with the archive open and I select the things I remember well. Then I read again the tests I do not remember so well, and choose the items I received especially well during the listening sessions. This is why it is so important to write down only honest and authentic things – as you can see it has its consequences also for us, because this is our “external memory”. Usually it turns out, that I have half of the tests in my notes. And I would like best to leave them all there, as those are “the best products”. But this will never work, because what would be the benefit of directions like: “go left or right or straight, you will get there for sure”?
This is why after this initial step the “massacre of the innocents” happens – this is the time to add a form to the whole, approach it intellectually and decide what is most important, the sound, craftsmanship, fame, price, functionality, compatibility or others.

This year we issue our awards for the seventh time. Just like in the years passed, the choice is made at the end of October, as then most of the devices for the year have already been tested and we have time to send the information about them to the distributors and manufacturers, so that they can use it during the Audio Show in November. The awards are split in three parts: Award of the Year 2010 for the best, in our opinion, of the devices tested and Statement Award – both are granted to audio devices, and Best Recording 2010 for outstanding recordings. The Statement Award is something like an “imprimatur”, an unconditional support, promoting really exceptional products, exceptional in all aspects. Usually those are units and loudspeakers from the topmost shelf, which show new areas of research, are the final statement of audio technology or simply timeless products. But sometimes those could be more financially acceptable products – the more their manufacturers should be praised!

Once again all my best regards and congratulations to all the awarded manufacturers and distributors!!!