I recently emailed John Atkinson of Stereophile

Stereophile is a waste of raw material. What you're seeing is grade inflation. That's how they managed to find products that were better than class A.
I went to a gas station recently that didn't sell "regular" gas. The choices were:Premium, Extra Premium and Ultra Premium. Grade inflation.
Stereo Pile is now, and has been for more than a decade, about nothing but advertising sales. The actual product is about nothing but justifying the price of that advertising.
My recommendation is that we all stop helping them pad their readership figures by forgetting that Stereophile exists. After all, it doesn't really exist for you. As a consensus measure it has repeatedly shown itself to be off the mark, falling far short of Audiogon Forums in that regard.

Sorry Ferd,
I can't buy that. I've been a manufacturer seeking a review. I've been to HQ in Santa Fe. I've been wined and dined by JA and Tom Norton. Then I've been called repeatedly and hounded for advertising by Laura Atkinson.
Stereophile and Bob Harley busted Timbre Technology right put of business by favoring the heavily advertised Sonic Frontiers juggernaut at Timbre's expense.
Stereophile does far more harm than good and their pretense of concern for the advancement of high end audio belies a sickly corporate self-interest.
Saying that something worse used to exist does not make them better.

Zaikesman -- Timbre submitted their well made, beautifully packaged and technically astute DAC to TAS who placed it in the hands of Jonathan Scull for review. He then jumped ship and became an S-phile reviewer.
This made little difference as he loved the product and said so in no uncertain terms on paper. However, RH, the digital guru and reviewer in chief saw fit to introduce caveats to the circumstances. It so happened that Sonic Frontiers also had a DAC for review at the time and SF was a product line that RH was actively promoting. Nothing they offered was anything short of a breakthrough.
So Timbre was used as a patsy, a springboard to the wonders of Sonic Frontiers.
I know about all of this because I was a dealer for TT at the time and I was in close contact with the Timbre people.
As for the quid pro quo, I told you what occurred and I am not in possession of a taped conversation so you'll need to take or leave mty tale as you see fit.
The TT review is in the April, 1994 issue.

Eldragon -- Mine was just another opinion -- much like the ones that Stereophile offers -- though mine was considerably less couched.
Personally I don't see any credibility in their publication but those who respect it enough to do as they are TOLD in making purchases will surely not be dissuaded by the rantings of a disbeliever. I'm sure they love their stuff and will continue to do so as long as Stereophile does.

Whknopp713 -- You would be well served to dismiss Stereophile altogether and gleen your knowledge from these forums. The quality of suggestion will vary, of course, but the guidance will be good and the ability to know what is useful and what is not will come quickly. Also if you discover a person whose responses you respect, try contacting that individual directly. Everyone I know welcomes such overtures.

You're welcome, Z. Do you subscribe?
I hadn't seen the publication for a few years when this year a friend who took advantage of a twofer deal sent me a subscription for Christmas.
It has declined to the point of self parody. It says the same thing in every issue give or take a hyperbole and the new class above "A" sums the whole comedy rather nicely.
As someone said earlier in this thread, the pictures are great but the articles are lacking.