I kind of have another trust issue with some reviews, too. Some companies send a sample product to major reviewers to have them publish reviews online. The idea of the company sending a slightly better than average product to the reviewer comes to mind. That slight increase in performance will ensure a better review and wont make the reviewed product seem irrelevant to the product we are buying. I wish major reviewers, innerfidilety, headfonia, cnet and others could afford to buy the product themselves for reviews.
How can a company send a better product for review when the said product is being judge by its sound quality? How can a reviewer judge an increase in sound quality subjectively vs. the lesser performing unit? When you open an audio product, an amplifier for example, all you see are capacitors, resistors, transistors, diodes, PCB board, wires, etc... A reviewer will take a photo of the board and publish it. So an astute buyer will be able to see the workmanship of the review sample.