Stereophile's 2021 products of the year

We agree on something, they go hand in hand, and reviewers who really know how to INTERPRET them - ie what really affects the sound and what does to a lesser degree are the ones, like Herb, whom I really respect. When designing his amp he knew which parameters needed to be spot on and which could be relaxed a bit. That’s called experience.

 if you want to believe elsewise

sorry, don’t get it.........

Stereophile is a much better read than this thread.
That's why people pay (not much) money for Stereophile.

But their recommended products is a bore and a waste of their  valuable editorial space.  They only include current gear and say nothing of the SQ relationship between say a Class A amp 10 years ago and one in this year's mag.  An objective discussion of that relationship would benefit us all.

I concur. My fully regulated JLH69 still sounds absolutely wonderful 51 years post design. I would loved to have had a good example of this classic compared with the aegir on SQ grounds so I could use it as a yardstick. If the aegir were to prove significantly better, I would obviously be very interested.

Comparing it with other amplifiers I know would give me similar insight.

Why buy anything when there is so much out there that is just as good if not better at 1/3 the price? Seems that's how most reviews in these publications go - "this is so great I bought it myself"; I'd like to see these people's listening rooms, because they sure buy a lot of stuff for themselves...