HI Tom,
I disagree with your conclusions re: that the logicalconclusion is that a wave radio is as good as it gets. I like both magazines: the sensible sound and especially the audio critic, because they (esp the audio critic) try to be scientific in their approach to what sounds good and what does not. imho, there is a serious lack of anything remotely scientific in our hobby. Most of the letters praising Audio critic are from professionals & scientists.
I would simply say to everyone: spend the $29.95. You'll get 13 issues of a magazine that reviews hardware and writes about music. At the very least, you can see what many in the high end audio business are trying to make darn sure you do not see (not that i think the posters here are in that category of course).
Anyways, all i can do is recommend. It's up to others to take or disregard that.
:-)
-akhilesh