Excellent comparison rbstehno and fully agreed. Stereophile does a much better job than the Absolute Sound in this regard with John Atkinson’s testing of equipment at least for what test results are worth. The reviewers often try a few different speakers w/ an amp or a few amps w/ a reviewed speaker which can be somewhat informative but rarely if ever do they directly compare another similarly priced item to the one in question which of course could very useful & informative.
Obviously these magazines have significant operational expenses that I’m sure are predominately covered by the advertising dollars & not the $2 or so we pay for them w/ a subscription but the car mags probably have a similar scenario & manage to be much more honest in the low points of a reviewed car & in head to head comparisons. What’s up w/ that??