For years people have sold snake oil to every industry by convincing people they needed to buy this or that. Then the so called "experts" and pundits step in and support the theory blindly. I’m always going to be skeptical unless faced with scientific data...not theory.
@dadawada What about using your own ears? I find that by reading reviewers I’ve learned to trust over the years I can get a pretty good idea of what a component sounds like and which ones I’d like to audition. Plus, with the proliferation of and access to used equipment these days it makes trying things out at home fairly feasible despite the ongoing disappearance of good dealers. Not saying measurements aren’t important because they surely are, but not sure putting them above subjective opinions from people you trust and/or who seem to have similar tastes/hearing as you might be like fighting with one hand behind your back. Just my $0.02 FWIW.