I think it depends on the Subject. For things that you know a lot, most articles doesn't go deep enough into any issues that you wont already know. For others that caught your attention and you have little to no knowledge on it. I read the article first and then read comments to see if it has answer to question I have.

And most of the time, comments on HN is the interesting part. You have people sharing stories on related subject and history 10-20 years ago on how it all started. Why was something being done , and add a lot more context.