What's the point of reviewing?


What’s up with anyone’s opinion good or worse, unless we have identical equipment and acoustic spaces, it’s mute.

voodoolounge

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.

@voodoolounge 

I think you meant moot. Anyway, when you get to know a reviewer well enough you can begin to give some weight to his conclusions about how something sounds. It's helpful if you can't go somewhere to hear it.

Reading one review about any product is not nearly enough to figure out its potential. One must take the time to read many reviews before you can see any kind of pattern that may fit your listening environment. It usually works for me,  not a fan of auditioning in live rooms as they don't represent mine.