I can certainly understand that reputations and profits are at stake when it comes to flagship products in a tiny niche market for such luxury items. Of course the international presence and demand can certainly make a huge difference to the bottom line of a specialized and narrow product range company like Audeze, perhaps much less to a broader, multi product company like Focal.
The reviews certainly help stir up buzz, interest and debates as well as sales but it is also important to remember that given what's at stake, these are all too often not unbiased reviews by any means. Personal relationships between the reviewers and the company CEOs and staff that go years back from rubbing elbows at various shows and of course the continuation of advertising dollars and further product reviews are at stake, not to mention professional courtesy discounts or "gifts" to reviewers go a long way to sway the what is supposed to be the "unbiased opinion".
The reviewers with a huge following really should take their responsibility of a fair and unbiased review seriously to give the audiophile/fan a clear window of understanding what the product may be like and pros and cons but at the end of the day, always, always, let your ears decide.
One thing I want to say is that given the extraordinary resolutions and capability to convey the tiniest of details on both of these headphones, listening to them on anything other than the exact same gear/cabling is doing the public reading such reviews a disservice. I can clearly hear tonal shifts and various differences in drive, PRAT, musical flow or lack of it just by switching a power cord or an interconnect with such a profound impact on the overall presentation that I would never take it upon myself to declare one a winner over the other unless there were glaring faults and even then I'd still want to triple check. Good thing I don't do reviews for a living. :D
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