Twas always thus. One hand washes the other. It is convenient to rely on cliches as I have just done but it also disingenuous to dismiss any and all suggestions of misbehavior as conspiracy theory. There are systems of graft at play everywhere we look today and it certainly isn't difficult to draw certain conclusions about the way we see the review process plied.
Green Mountain Audio has been producing exceptional product for nearly 30 years under one name or another and has spent most of that time in the shadow of lesser products with better connections. His neighbor Jeff Rowland has been harder to overlook but he too has been largely ignored in the same way.
Some years ago I was affiliated with a small company that made one product only but it was one of the best engineered and packaged products available then. The Timbre Technology TT-1 Dac was submitted to the Absolute Sound for review. They assigned it to Jonathon Valin. He jumped ship and went to Stereophile taking the Timbre with him. He subsequently gave it a rave review in that magazine but, unfortunately, was trumped by Robert Harley when he was the resident expert. Harley at the time was promoting any and everything offered by Sonic Frontiers and Timbre became the victim of his overriding faint praise. That began the end for Timbre even though it was arguably one of the very best DACs on the market at that time. The company struggled for about 3 more years but ultimately had to give up the ghost. Many small manufacturers are aware of this or another similar tale and scrupulously avoid submitting themselves to that potential abuse.
It's a big gamble that can make or break you. Unless you have the money to encourage praise of your product, you will likely be relegated to obscurity or otherwise abused. Ad money works in audio like campaign contributions in politics.
Green Mountain Audio has been producing exceptional product for nearly 30 years under one name or another and has spent most of that time in the shadow of lesser products with better connections. His neighbor Jeff Rowland has been harder to overlook but he too has been largely ignored in the same way.
Some years ago I was affiliated with a small company that made one product only but it was one of the best engineered and packaged products available then. The Timbre Technology TT-1 Dac was submitted to the Absolute Sound for review. They assigned it to Jonathon Valin. He jumped ship and went to Stereophile taking the Timbre with him. He subsequently gave it a rave review in that magazine but, unfortunately, was trumped by Robert Harley when he was the resident expert. Harley at the time was promoting any and everything offered by Sonic Frontiers and Timbre became the victim of his overriding faint praise. That began the end for Timbre even though it was arguably one of the very best DACs on the market at that time. The company struggled for about 3 more years but ultimately had to give up the ghost. Many small manufacturers are aware of this or another similar tale and scrupulously avoid submitting themselves to that potential abuse.
It's a big gamble that can make or break you. Unless you have the money to encourage praise of your product, you will likely be relegated to obscurity or otherwise abused. Ad money works in audio like campaign contributions in politics.