What's the point of reviewing?

I agree @8th-note and @testpilot 

Found my new preamp: Icon Audio LA4 MKIII from a review and Product of Year selection in TAS.  There are very few retailers who handle it.  Very pleased with it to say the least.

I must say that the Linton is so overrated. 

@voodoolounge

I would never buy a component based solely upon a review but that doesn’t, in my mind, render them useless. When contemplating an upgrade, my approach is to gather as many impressions/opinions as I can about products I might consider. This includes reviews as well as comments posted on this forum and others and in conjunction with specs, helps me narrow the field. Once I have a short list of candidates, I research which can be auditioned at home, which further reduces the number of contenders. While I don’t assert this is the only way to go, it’s worked for me, so far. By contrast, auditioning gear in show-rooms has not. Each to his/her own. Discover what works for you.

Audio reviews are like wine reviews. I like to hear what experienced and knowledgeable reviewers have to say about gear (and wine). I’ll never sit in front of some of the high end gear nor drink a bottle of Petrus, but I like to read about it.  I’ve run across new music reading reviews and find how the reviewer describes aspects of the music produced. Helps me when I’m listening to my rig. 
 

Reviews have influenced some of my buying decisions; most notably my move into electrostatic speakers. When I wanted to try some new speakers, I remembered many times that reviewers compared a speaker midrange to Quads; or they’d remind the reviewer of the first time they heard Quads, etc. With nothing more than that, I found some ESL 63s here on AGon for a reasonable price. Never looked back. 
 

Because I think engineering matters, I like reviews that provide measurements and subjective commentary. But the numbers aren’t the whole story. As @mahgister points out, the story is told in how gear fits together into a system and into your acoustic environment.