What's the point of reviewing?

the generalized question, in this day and age of information overload and the highly questionable veracity of much of said information, is how does one sort through what is available to draw salient, accurate, reliable conclusions upon which to act?

this question/issue applies in spades in this case of audio equipment reviews and online discussions... and lessons learned should apply profitably to all major decisions where info gathering is necessary

You read a review. The reviewer makes a convincing case as to whether the component under review might be something that'll match your taste, give your system new life and altogether enhance your listening pleasure. The component is within your budget...or just slightly beyond it. You buy the thing. You connect it up and listen for a couple days. Does it indeed increase your pleasure? Is it breaking in and sounding a bit better as the days go by? If so, yeah! You're a happy guy or gal!

The trick is that one must be able to take all the information available for a product and synthesize that information to derive conclusions that have a good probability of panning out. Not always an easy task. Much easier to just take advice from someone you trust. That can work as well if that person has correctly done his homework. Sometimes it’s simply just hit or miss and try try again.

You can take what any reviewer says with a grain of salt regarding sound quality, but reviewers can also tell you much about the feature set of a device, how well those features worked, how snappy any software was, and if it had issues connecting to wi-fi, so you'd know to steer clear. And you can at least see the device on screen in a real room, not just some well Photoshopped ad copy. 

If you watch or read a few good reviewers, you can learn their preferences and whether they align with yours. 

Reviews are fun. They introduce you to products you might miss. If the reviewer understands functionally how a product is designed(a few do) you learn what the designer is trying to do and a bit of if he's going in the direction he wants. If you read enough reviews and get to know a reviewer's tastes If he knows his own and is consistent) over time you may even get a good idea if a product interests you and if it's worth seeking out to audition.