"The disservice this forum has for newbies is the mindset price determines ability which hasn’t been true for decades in this niche hobby. If there is one overall piece of advice I would take from ASR is test for yourself, don’t assume you’re immune from human bias and the biggest factor that determines what you hear is your speakers/room."
+ 100%
It’s funny on this forum that people would complain about ASR when many members here seem to believe that higher price means better listening experience, which most certainly has not been my experience over the years... I’d trust ASR over price any day of the week, particularly when it comes to items like cables, dacs, and even to some extent amps.
That said, you still gotta test things for yourself and I do not always concur with ASR’s conclusions especially when it comes to speakers since those are so personal and ear- and room- dependent, as djones51 points out.