Empirical Evidence?...the gap between subjective and objective

Audio experience and audio science goes hand in hand...

Subjectivity and objectivity must always be correlated with the subjectivity being the pilot...

It is true about electronic design of Dac, amplifier, or speaker...

But it is way more evident in acoustic/psycho-acoustic science which is mostly experiments and not only theoretical ...

We must learn and only may learn to listen by acoustic experiments in our own room NOT by buying gear and plugging it in a wall by the way....It make me smile when people claim that they listen to 50 amplifiers then they know....They know amplifiers then not sound experience which is an acoustical /psycho-acoustical experience ....Imaging, dynamic, soundstage, LEV/ASW ratio etc bass, timbre perception, all these cues we must learn to control them in our room , nevermind the gear if it  is basically an  already well chosen one to begin with ...

Anyway nobody know the real peak working potential of their audio system if the room is not well controlled to serve it optimally... Especially true in small room because of the way worked reflections and reverberation time...

It is possible with speakers to create an intimacy like in headphone and with a sound filling the room... I know because i did it... No headphone i ever used (8)  can rival a well controlled  room...

The Op is wise...

I solidly embrace both camps. Hard science gets us close, then the loosening of emotions in guiding us home.

...and then there is this...

Cary Audio Design CAD-805 monoblock power amplifier Measurements | Stereophile.com

russ69 ...

I made mention of Julian Hirsh in marking the beginning of the chasm among us.  Your word choice illustrates how that went down.  Other publications included specifications that to this day, prove useful for many.  

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Other publications included specifications that to this day, prove useful for many.  

The measurements in Stereophile magazine back up the extensive listening tests. Not like ASR who barely listens to the equipment. I carefully read the measurements in Stereophile and have been since Stereophile started taking measurements. However, I can stare at the numbers all day long but unless the product has major flaws the measurements don't tell me how the product sounds. On top of that I don't think ASR serves the audiophile community, it serves the mass electronics market. I have never seen a statement loudspeaker tested and every speaker JBL makes gets a recommendation and I have only heard a few huge JBLs that I might live with, the L200 being one of them. How do you measure, scale and power? Rear firing drivers? Room interaction (frequency response isn't the whole story).  Like Stereophile, I listen first.