Kondo DAC : Why no reviews ??

Bombaywalle.....your hypothesis is very accurate. Most customers of Kondo are not your average audiophiles, they are music lovers and really are not after the most accurate sound (whatever that is) but after a musical experience that let's them get immersed in sound and enjoy the experience. For accuracy there are many other brands to choose.
Kondo never "requests" reviews again they are just too busy hand-building their gear and besides, you are right again where a reviewer may not fully understand one piece of Kondo gear where a "system" of Kondo gear would speak the truth.
Dealer disclaimer noted!

my guess: since they can't keep up with the demand so they probably need no promotion; so no reviewers samples are made available.

come to think of it, who wants to have so much $$$$$ sitting with the reviewers for months?

Interesting and surprising !!!
Are there other brands like these ?

I spoke with Audio Note UK owner at a show. He said he doesn't care about reviews. Sometimes reviewers do a poor job anyway, so they can hurt a decent product. As a manufacturer you have to be really careful who reviews your products. Their systems are often much worse than mine IME.

If you have plenty of orders due to word of mouth, why spend money on advertising and reviews? It just increases product cost.

If your products and brand-name are unknown, then reviews are useful. They can sometimes replace the role that bricks and mortar stereo store played in the past, but should be filtered based on their system and experience.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Steve, Kondo and the products bearing the "Audio Note UK" brand are completely different, and the two companies have had nothing to do with one another for over a decade. This link will explain.

http://db.audioasylum.com/mhtml/m.html?forum=general&n=37527