who has the best recommended product reviews

Labguy wrote: "how do I find reviews by these individual men? I've only read magazine reviews, and I don't know individual authors."

Go to the magazine's website and use the search function for an author's name.

I haven't read a truly 'candid' review in twenty years. I trust my own ears and have some faith in companies who have been doing it right for a long time. Mainstream magazines are the worst in that ad revenues are at risk with each review. The most extreme example that I can think of is the automatic A+ rating that Stereophile magazine gives Sony for each new flagship digital front end device introduced to the market. I have demo/owned some of these A+ rated components and have compared them to products from Audio Research, EAD (Ultradisc 2000),etc. No way should Sony get an 'autopass'. Then again, if Stereophile really did blast Sony, what fallout would ensue for the magazine and it's relationship to an industry giant??

Jeff Dorgay from Tone Audio :-)

(...ok,ok...thought, it is time for a joke)

Brauner, please note that Class A+ was created exclusively
for devices that can play SACD, DVD-A and/or hi-rez files
and selection is based performance with such hi-rez media,
not CD.

I trust myself.