Agreed
@tomcy6 and +1!
I don't believe MC is a shill either and I think his motivations are driven more by a combination of ideology, insecurity, and pure recreational enjoyment of trying to be viewed as "the smartest guy in the room" often by bullying tactics. So why does MC promote just a handful of brands over and over. If you notice there's a pattern in these brands:
1) All made in the USA
2) All small-sized in ownership, typically one-man shops with perhaps a skeletal additional support staff.
3) Products that are priced at the lower tier yet still considered hifi, high-end.
4) The products often do punch slightly above their price and arguably perform better than some over-priced gear.
5) MC often jumps on the bandwagon supporting these products WITHOUT ever hearing them! He obviously supports the construct described above on it's face with some supplementation of reviews he's read.
So what have I synthesized from the above? I think MC is on a bit of a Crusade. I don't think he actually is a shill or receives any kickback from anyone. I think he approaches this as almost a religious pursuit - pouring himself into the support of tiny US-based operations that are priced on the affordable end of hifi and trying to prove that everyone else is wasting their money on much higher priced gear - partly due perhaps to his own inability to afford the higher priced stuff himself but also on his own definition of a value proposition and how humans should be allocating capital. So he paints this narrative that everyone else is getting ripped off to make himself feel better about the gear he has selected while also supporting HIS view of what America is all about. Sadly it disenfranchises everyone who doesn't fit his mold of the proper way to pursue this hobby.
