Kal: No argument here, just that the idea of missing what you don't know isn't there struck me funny.
Personally, I'd have thought that by now, especially given the existence of Audiogon, there might have started up an advertising-free, subscription-only review 'zine (e- or otherwise) where late-model review components were purchased new or used, instead of loaned by manufacturers, and then quickly sold again for negligible loss upon review completion, in order to divorce the objective review process from the need to sell ads or procure loans -- more like Consumer Reports than the car mags, for instance. In theory, audioreview.com and the Audiogon review forum could serve this purpose, but in practice audiophiles who write reviews are generally dealing with components they have a personal investment in -- psychically as well as monetarily -- and little that's critically detached seems to get written (not to mention written well).
Personally, I'd have thought that by now, especially given the existence of Audiogon, there might have started up an advertising-free, subscription-only review 'zine (e- or otherwise) where late-model review components were purchased new or used, instead of loaned by manufacturers, and then quickly sold again for negligible loss upon review completion, in order to divorce the objective review process from the need to sell ads or procure loans -- more like Consumer Reports than the car mags, for instance. In theory, audioreview.com and the Audiogon review forum could serve this purpose, but in practice audiophiles who write reviews are generally dealing with components they have a personal investment in -- psychically as well as monetarily -- and little that's critically detached seems to get written (not to mention written well).