I have pretty good experience with the Stereophile reviews except that I find them to be somewhat quality inflated, as some of you suggest. Still, the comments in the reviews are useful and also the rankings are useful, IMO. Sometimes they are flat out wrong, as in the case of Thiel 1.6. They rated it C, whereas other magazines find, as I personally have found, that they are awesome.
I recently emailed John Atkinson of Stereophile
I was concerned lately by the lack of Class "D" preamps in latest Stereophile Recommended Components listings and e-mailed John Atkinson the editor, who implied that because many newer preamps exceed the Class D limitations and newer preamps simply outperform their older bretheren, this class was currently empty. Which got me thinking: one can purchase a used Conrad Johnson PV10a or a Conrad Johnson PF-2 on this site for around six hundred dollars. Does this mean that Newer preamps in the same basic price range, like the new Parasound Halo which goes for $799 at Audio Advisor "sound better" than vintage gear? Any thoughts?