It's not pseudo marketing; it's just marketing. I really don't see anything even slightly objectionable about it. They are cooperating to try to give potential customers and readers accurate information about a new product. Marketing at its best.
Schiit is confident it will pass ASR's tough objective muster; maybe they considered ASR's unique SINAD spec. when they designed this. If so, that's good. I value that spec.
I appreciate @T.M.Noble sharing resources and insight, facilitating the availability of information when it is most valuable. I don't think a $200 unit is compromising the integrity of the review. @amirm can have a review that is much more valuable too, because virtually everyone who buys the product will be able to read the review first; rather than only those who buy it a couple weeks or more after launch.
As others have mentioned in this thread, this product looks like another part of what makes this such a great time for listening to music on headphones at home; another important incremental step in a recent rapid stream of inexpensive excellent-measuring DACs and headphone amps.
I call it pseudo...call it 'viral' or whatever you want. Companies using 'independent' or 'community' or whatever you want to call it reviewers by sending them products, is obviously different from users sending in products. It's also different from 'blatant' marketing like advertising or old-fashioned publications that get review units sent in and have an additional commercial relationship with the manufacturer because the implication with 'pseudo' marketing is that there's no conflict of interest. I trust Amir's reviews, that's not the issue, the issue is the potential highjacking of that trust, *especially for products on release*.