That's a tough call.
The question becomes one of motivations with respect to the "tester" and the president.
From what I've seen presidents of "societies" will tend to cater to the industry they are in. They tend to be elected based on popularity and are bottom line focused. There are so many magazines in many markets that are completely worthless in terms of their willingness to say anything other than positive things about any advertiser.
I've seen this with regard to Ski boats years ago after Water Ski magazine got complaints from its advertisers after their ratings reviews. They had standardized testing, but ended up moving to publishing what was essentially advertising text from the manufacturers. I've seen this with a number of short lived RC Helicopter publications, and a few others.
It is very rare that a magazine bucks this. Car and Driver historically has been willing to tear a product apart and list very specific objective and subject thoughts, but I've not seen this very often.
The problem I see with the business of selling audio gear is that it is becoming commoditized.
1. Media source is digital and high resolution files are available that exceed the capabilities of all other media.
So CD/DVD/BD player sales are WAY down. Everyone streams or plays local files, hence OPPO stopping production.
Not only that but the content is centrally distributed by Internet removing all local profit for source.
Result: media/transport has been commoditized = nil profit
2. D/A converters/preamps have been on a Moore's Law curve becoming dramatically more powerful quickly and reaching diminishing returns.
Result: very low profit, very small market the ultra high end.
3. Amplifiers are becoming commoditized, but still have some room for profit at the very high end.
I've mentioned before that I have a $300 AV receiver powering my surround sound system and doing a very good job of it. It's not perfect, but it is past the point where I care.
4. Speakers are the last component where profit is possible at the high end.
Since all the profit is left at the ultra high end and companies are struggling harder to find anything to sell that adds value, they are increasingly grasping at straws.
BTW Audio is by no means the only sinking ship out there, and like others it is being squeezed from many directions simultaneously.
- Technology creating much higher quality much cheaper
- Society moving towards ear buds and away from stereo systems
- A middle class that can afford nice things that is withering away
