How Good Are B-Stock Sonus faber 

New would be in a factory sealed box, and it was obvious that those boxes had been opened previously. As mentioned in the video, most of the b-stock was in mint condition, but had probably been used in a demo at an audio show or used by a reviewer for a short time.

Not sure if you are talking about reviewers on this RU-vid channel, which includes employees of the Audio Excellence store in Toronto, or reviewers associated with a magazine, etc, and not a retailer of equipment, or maybe other RU-vid channels. Adrian has previously said that Audio Excellence only reviews items they sell, so they are usually reviewing demo items in their store. Some reviewers of influential magazines (or now that also have websites) get free loaners for some fixed period of time. These are typically items that get passed around from one reviewer to another, or may also be used in trade shows. Some reviewers, like Absolute Sound, are notorious for dropping components off their recommended list, if the manufacturer has not sent them a review sample recently. These reviewers are able to have high-end audio systems in their homes continuously without having to pay anything, so long as they do reviews. Employees of retail stores typically get a personal discount that is slightly lower than wholesale cost to the store if they are purchasing for their own use (not for resale). However, I can't say for sure if that applies every brand. When I worked at an audio store years ago, I got employee discounts from several manufacturers that was 50% off MSRP, instead of the usual 40% off MSRP that the retailer pays as the wholesale price.

@@mark9118 Thanks very much for this deeper insight, Mark. I actually meant the „professional reviewer category“ who works for - like you mentioned - Absolute Sound, Stereophile, Positive Feedback etcetera … So you mean they get „loaners“ from the manufacturers…but don’t get them „as gifts“ ? So they cannot/ aren’t allowed to sell those items and make money with it . They have to give back the gear after a certain period of time ? Asking also because some of them write in their articles that „after reviewing they were so convinced to actually have bought the stuff“… Well, maybe possible but when they’re talking about speakers for example costing (regularly) over $ 150.000.- I asked myself: HOW much money does a reviewer actually make with his „little articles“ to randomly being able to buy such speakers (even if they get considerable discount)…

@@bikemike1118 The reviewers do not get them as gifts and have to return them. They might get a deep discount if they want to buy them, and an especially deep discount if it is a demo unit. If a reviewer were allowed to keep them, that would be considered a blatant conflict of interest that could not be allowed, and would bring embarrassment to the manufacturer if anyone found out about it. Sometimes a manufacturer will let the reviewer give the demo unit away to their readers (or RU-vid viewers) in a drawing or something, especially if it is not a really expensive item. However, the manufacturer can chose to advertise in the publication that does the review, and that may be considered by some to be paying the reviewer for doing the review, and maybe also influencing the review. If a reviewer wants to buy something and gets a special discount direct from the manufacturer (or distributor) they are not supposed to turn around and sell it for a profit, at least not right away, but there probably is no easy way to enforce that. When I got my gear at 50% off (which is less than the wholesale price paid by the the retailer) I kept it for a long time and eventually gave the items away, but there was no way for the manufacturer to know what I did with it. But a particular manufacturer is probably not going to sell more than one kind of item (one amp, one speaker pair, etc) at 50% off to the same person within a reasonable amount of time. But as I mentioned previously, many of top reviewers get so many new items to review, that they effectively have free equipment in their home all the time, it just changes a lot.

@@mark9118 👍🏼…thanks Mark. Yes, these advertisings from manufacturers for many readers collides with the ‚good reviews‘ … as there seems to be a „connection“ somehow. And then, after reading your explanation, it again is highly questionable why a reviewer should actually BUY components… first: it requires permanent space in their listening or living rooms which can be annoying when other gear comes in to be reviewed. Second: as they get always the „latest & greatest (LOL)“ to review it doesn’t make much sense to stick with one item for longer than necessary. A big DISADVANTAGE I personally see in that business as a reviewer is: they actually never get to a point where they achieve a „final setup“ because each new arrival can destroy the formerly achieved synergy (if at all achieved yet) with the other existing components in the chain. That’s why it is really hard to review ONE component isolated….as the whole thing can play music only as a chain.

@@bikemike1118 They often have more than one of the same type component to review at one time, so they can compare it against others. Some of them may own their own high end gear and have a permanent "reference" item to compare against. But considering the cost of some of the equipment, they probably don't care about the downsides, if it enables them to have such high end stuff for free in their home. Most reviewers don't make much money, unless they happen to own the publication, but these days I am not sure how profitable those magazines are even for the owners of them. These days, it seems that RU-vid reviews are probably more popular than magazine reviews.