FWIW, why might you think that Sterophile and Absolute Sound practically give away subscriptions. Subscriptions don't pay for these magazines - mostly all they do is support the readership numbers the rags need to keep advertisers on the hook. They serve the manufacturers not the public. They have lacked any credibility for years (if they ever had that much to begin with). A few 'honest' reviewers have published therein but, IMHO, not often in The Absolute Sound, at least in post Pearson days. On-line reviewers can be just as crass and often they are - their names would be obvious to anyone paying attention.
Reminds me of the old saying about Time/Look magazines. Look is for those who can't read, Time is for those who can't think. Stereophile and The Absolute Sound would succeed as a composite of both.