Not all “experts” are created equal. Also, there seems to be 3 reasons against negative professional reviews:
1) P reviewers choose interesting components for their audience, usually meaning newer designs with good reputations - so expect reliability and performance to be sorted out. They do not pick randomly, which would lead to significantly more negative reviews.
2) P reviewers seem to avoid publishing negative reviews because in our small niche high-end audio market, such a review can have major negative financial effect on the manufacturer. Some consumers may feel like it’s bias not to objectify report the good and the bad.
3) If a P reviewer reports negatively, future manufactures may avoid using them for fear of a negative review.
As a consumer, I’d like honesty the good and bad to help my purchase decision. But to not perspectively seriously hurt a manufacturer, I think it best not to publish a very detrimental review to give the manufacturer a chance to correct the issues
"...and I don't take any advertiser money..."
"As usual, this review is not sponsored (nor does any company get to preview anything I review), and I don’t take any advertiser money from any companies I review."
This is from a review of a Garmin sports watch. Do you think any audio reviewers can make this statements?
Jerry