Not sure what you're in a huff about, he's right. Audiophiles get shit talked relentlessly on ASR for the same kind of thing that's happening in the OP. Their subjective experience is routinely dismissed in favor of objective measurements. This review is a rare role reversal, so I'm not surprised to see people calling it out.
I prefer ASR to AudioGon and other subjectivity paradises, but sometimes you gotta call a spade a spade.
Well, there are multiple threads in this conversation. Among others...
First there's Amir's subjective listening impression. As Amir always says, it's cleanly separated from the objective measurements so you can ignore it if you don't like it. Some people are really "in a huff" about them. And other people are really in a huff about those people being in a huff.
Second, there's a more general thread of discussion about how a particular objective measurement (distortion, particularly at higher SPLs) might correlate to listener preference.
As Geddes and others have said, ultimately all these objective measurements need to be tied back into subjective preference. Otherwise they have no meaning! Of course, when he says this, he's talking about statistically valid blind testing. I certainly don't dispute the fact that blind controlled tests are the only way to settle the matter. I wouldn't even consider that up for debate.
(Geddes also says nonlinear distortions are masked at higher SPLs, so maybe we're all barking up the wrong tree)
I think it's still okay and useful to, y'know, discuss things and share experiences/preferences. Remember, controlled blind tests tell us about the
average listener... the kind of thing you would want to know if designing sound equipment designed to appeal to a broad range of people. A designer/manufacturer should probably stick to those religiously when working in those capacities.
However, as individuals listening to music I wouldn't consider it a sinful descent into subjectivism for ASR members to say they tend to like speakers that exhibit objective traits X, Y, and Z, and wonder how how various objective measurements tie into subjective experience.