Stereophile's 2021 products of the year

But George, what about the fact that every year there are at least a decent handful of components that don’t measure very well but are subjectively loved by the reviewer and they get put into the class A category? What are we to
take from that?

That's why I said way back  

"And measurements will tell you far more than "just the review", and "could" show you if the reviewers full of it also."

Cheers George

Then why should we place faith in other Stereophile reviews?

I give a lot of credit to Mike Moffet of Schiit. I first spoke with him in the early '80 when he founded Theta Audio. He had developed pretty much the first functional CD player. I wanted to buy it but he steered me away since he referred to it as the Frankenstein since it was quite gerry rigged.
I wound up getting his ultimate DVD/CD transport, the Compli which I use to this day.
Mike has really taken the industry by storm with Schiit Audio. 250,000 amps sold? I have only heard those kind of numbers describing decades of sales of a venerable product like the original Vandys. Schiit has established products, marketing and philosophy that have revolutionized the industry. I was so impressed that Schiit recently introduced a super affordable and good quality TT that gives so many folks the opportunity to dive into vinyl. Really good, affordable "stuff". Bravo Schiit!

I recently finished reading Shiit Happened, by the founders of Shiit Audio, and can wholeheartedly recommend it as an insightful, often very funny, irreverent take on how to succeed in the audio business while trying (and working) really, really hard, owning your mistakes, and trying hard to treat the people who love music and way-better-than-average sound... Respectfully & well. Did it make me go to their website and think about maybe trying some of their gear, heck yes -- the desired effect, for sure.  But they genuinely seem allergic to snake oil and stuff that costs 6 or 14 much as it probably should. More power to 'em, i say.