Is berkeley dac as good as absolute sound review?

Pubal57, I understand your point - that the reviewer wouldn’t by a component that he didn’t find musically satisfying. But I think the counterpoint is valid too - that a component purchased at a noncompetitive price might not be quite the endorsement it appears. To illustrate: There are a number of good cars in the $50k bracket. Although I might have a strong preference for one model in particular, if I had the opportunity to buy a competitive model with the same sticker price for $25k, it would be a no brainer for me; even though it’s not my first choice, everything being equal.

Phaelon, I agree with you in a real world sitution.

But within a review context, the reviewer is just making a POINT how good the unit is. So good that I'm purchasing the reviewed unit ... purchasing price is NOT important within this context.

Yup, there is something corrosive to the process when there is a deal between manufacturer and reviewer - hard to knock your "friends", but I think Knghifi captures the spirit of my comment, if I was a reviewer with access to most any piece of equipment, the fact I choose to buy something and make it my own says something, maybe not what it says if I paid full price, but still....

Anyway, I guess the Berkeley DAC is pretty darn good:)

Knghifi and Pubul57, the question still remains: would the reviewer have bought the gear if he had to pay full list price? In some cases, the answer is yes, but in other cases the answer might be no. Two of the factors (among many others) as to whether or not the reviewer buys the equipment are undeniably (1) price and (2) the reviewer's financial situation. Those are real world factors to any purchasing decision no matter what the situation. Ignoring factor (2) for a moment, any sane person looking at a high-value product with an opportunity to get it at a steep discount would be hard-pressed not to pass it up.

No he might not, but he would not have bought it at all if he did not like it, he gets the opportunity to buy most anything at 50% off, but he does not in fact do so, only the stuff he actually likes. He passes up many opportunities in the course of his job, and some he does not pass up, those are the ones that he actually likes, and therefore in buying them it is meaningful as an aside to the review.