So you respect Anandtech, but you think it's wrong for people to trust their numbers or talk about them. Why do they even bother writing these reviews then... If I give you links to other reviews from ExtremeTech or xbitlabs that show the same thing, your answer will be the same, I guess.
I considered getting the Zalman 9700, read a lot of comparative reviews, listened to one in the shop, and decided to pass. It wasn't so much the noise level, but the annoying frequency.