A wide range of opinion is expressed in the previous responses, however, the question of honesty is never really addressed. The question of the relationship on advertising dollars on editorial content is addressed. The question of whether reviews are being sold for money or equipment is never quite covered. Possibly Carl_Eber comment in a different thread is applicable, let your ears make their own judgements. Trust your ears, reviewers are only a crude guide at best. Some are better than others, some have no context at all, however, better yet, if you are going to spend megabucks on equipment, develop your own context to evaluate equipment and then use reviewers whose observations are verified by your experience as a starting point in your search for the ultimate.
Honest Reviewers ?
Ever wonder why 99% of all reviwers seem to use the same expressions. No ? Well, I sure have been thinking about this. It's not that I have nothing better to do, but I keep asking why do they say the same things like .... " It sounds like a veil has been lifted" or "it sounds like the glass has been wiped clean" and the current favorite is "it just gets out of the way and let the music play ". Stereophile and the Absolute Sound seem to compete for the most stupid cliches. It appears that CABLE reviews will make reviewers go wild with verbal intoxication. Just sit and think about this crazy idea I am about to suggest. A group of 2 or 3 honest people with high expertise in the audio arena deciding to call the shots as they see them ! They would compare equipment or cables against each other and list their relative strengths, they would even offer opinions on any possible synergy between equipment and cables, if such a thing exists. They would have no fear. What a Concept !