Jerry, first off thanks for registering.
I agree with you 100% here. However, we rarely do amplifier face off reviews for several reasons:
1) Too time consuming
2) Most manufacturers won't send gear if they know you are doing a face off
3) Usually doesn't make for good reading material. Most consumers want to know the details of the product in question, not a glance over of a bunch of products. Most of our reviews are over 15 pages in PDF format!
4) It is an enormous effort to do this right, have all variables under control, etc, and people would still not likely be happy with the results.
Stay tuned however, as in the coming months we will be in a better position to do more objective testing on gear to supplement our thorough reviews.
Actually to my knowledge, Stereophile has never measured cables, especially to the level of detail that we do. I actually measure the cable metrics, model them in sophisticated programs and verify it with mathematics and show correlations between all three!
While that may be true for hardware (amps,CD players, Speakers), this is simply NOT the case for cables. There is no magic to cables. Nothing undefined. It is an exact science. The test gear I use is on the order of 1000's of times more accurate and consistant than the human ear.
The correct statement should be, just because you can measure a difference in cables, doesn't mean that you can hear it!
With that, I have shown why some cables do sound different, which is a result of their measurements and how they interact with the interface equipment.
BTW, if you find any other articles that are grossly outdated please email me privately and I will take a look. Some of our old stuff either needs updates or the trash can