The messages I get from your three excerpts are "good, but very expensive" for the turntable, "OK for the money, but not really good" for the CD player, and "looks good and sounds OK" for the preamp.
Manufacturers are obliged to praise their own products as the best, or the best for the money. They rely on the magazines to position their products in the constellation of the marketplace against direct competitors, often with allusions to the manufacturer's reputation or the designer's history. This almost never involves criticizing the product, just different levels of praise. I find I've become adept at interpreting such bull.
Often price is brought in to help justify a recommendation as a good value, or to assign a product in a not-as-good category. Typically, the more expensive the price, the higher the praise. Perhaps this is real, i.e., better products actually cost more and deserve their praise. It is rare to see a critical review of an expensive item.
Having said all this, I wonder philosophically whether we are seeing some diminishing returns effect on technology. I believe most types of products are better today than they were twenty years ago. Within this context, even a cheap version of something today might be better than something considered pretty good twenty years ago. The same reviewer who was able to make sharp distinctions twenty years ago might find most products sound pretty good today and not too different from competitors. As a reader, I would still like the reviewer to be able to make sharp distinctions today, but it may not be realistic anymore.
Manufacturers are obliged to praise their own products as the best, or the best for the money. They rely on the magazines to position their products in the constellation of the marketplace against direct competitors, often with allusions to the manufacturer's reputation or the designer's history. This almost never involves criticizing the product, just different levels of praise. I find I've become adept at interpreting such bull.
Often price is brought in to help justify a recommendation as a good value, or to assign a product in a not-as-good category. Typically, the more expensive the price, the higher the praise. Perhaps this is real, i.e., better products actually cost more and deserve their praise. It is rare to see a critical review of an expensive item.
Having said all this, I wonder philosophically whether we are seeing some diminishing returns effect on technology. I believe most types of products are better today than they were twenty years ago. Within this context, even a cheap version of something today might be better than something considered pretty good twenty years ago. The same reviewer who was able to make sharp distinctions twenty years ago might find most products sound pretty good today and not too different from competitors. As a reader, I would still like the reviewer to be able to make sharp distinctions today, but it may not be realistic anymore.