What's actually really scary about the magazines is that the reviewers themselves do not have audiophile like rooms. Most of them are severely compromized in one way or another (this from a friend who is in the business and has visited many of them). They are not as much into the room acoustics thing as many of us are. And of course they each have their little biases and preferences. It is a subjective hobby, ya know, so you have to know theyr particular flavor to accuratley understand what's being said between the lines.
Yeah, they get good stuff to listen to, and there's always more and more to hear each year, and their livelihood depends on keeping up with what's new, and they have to continually come up with something to keep readers interested, etc. The whole point of these magazines is to assist the industry to move forward and maintain sales. So there's really no surprise that they tout new stuff over old, even if it's not surprisingly different or better.
The industry does go through phases though, from tubes to SS, to peaky and overly transparent highs, to deep bass, back to tubes, to analogue, to new digital, etc. Keep it moving and keep it interesting is what they are all about.
But those of us with real wallets that we have to replenish occasionally need to sort through this marketing and decide what we want, then use the reviews as one tool to get there. It takes discipline, especially since the hobby is working against you're simply saying "I'm satisfied, so I think I'll just stop here and enjoy".
