it might allow those of us who are actively improving our systems utilizing both our ears and measurements the ability to have intelligent conversations free of baseless opining. if you have not auditioned the item of discussion your thoughts are of zero value to anyone.
In every review there are basically a few 'parameters'.
1: technical performance (measurable)
2: longevity and build quality
3: impressions from owners including operational, and devices breaking, service, seller and manufacturer 'issues'
4: Operational issues (difficult menus, buttons not easy to operate/reach)
About ...
1: To make a full recomendation/evaluation many, many measurements should be done. Yet only some basic measurements are posted/discussed.
Sometimes interaction with other gear is not taken into account, common mode/groundloop/RF susceptibility/emission is not measured and could be of importance.
So here (at ASR) a choice is made by the reviewer (in most cases Amir) which measurements are made and which one is shown.
In some cases Amir is asked to make specific measurements, in some cases this is not possible, sometimes Amir does them.
2: This is not easy to predict unless a torture test is done and the device is fully taken apart. A teardown often is not possible as the gear is from owners who send one in.
3: Yes, here you need the feedback from owners, for parameter 1 you do not need that at all.
4: Sometimes this is duscussed by the reviewer or owners. An owners opinion helps but some things are so obvious one can see it looking at pictures or manuals.
Owning a device may help bring issues forward but is not a necessity in a discussion.
a great audio system is a work of art, if it was purely based on coupling the “best”measuring components a deaf monkey could do it. and maybe you believe that is true, a deaf monkey could do it, which is fine, but if googling, cutting and pasting measurements or worse, recommending a double blind test is all you got, we have all heard it before, every thread is choked with it, please, please, please stop embarrassing yourself and wasting everyone’s time.
Not a work of art, rather a labour of love and care taken by the owner that values it. A personal thing and VERY biased because of it.
Also most folks do not go for 'optimal signal fidelity' (despite them thinking they do) but go with what 'sounds best' to them.
This, however, is merely a personal opinion based on their personal taste. It has no relevance to reviews on ASR. These are about signal fidelity and the assurance for most people that desire optimum signal fidelity.
To most of these people (ASR followers) optimal signal fidelity is an assurance that possible 'not so good' sound is either the recording or room or personal preference being in the way and NOT signal fidelity of the chosen components.
That may NOT be what everyone is looking for. For them there are many, many other review sites. Some also publish a few measurements.