Interesting conversation.
+1 @jjss49 "the generalized question...is how does one sort through what is available to draw salient, accurate, reliable conclusions upon which to act?"
+1 Mahgister's idea that we do need multiple reviewers to help us converge. I disagree that this does not also include "taste" because we need to find a reviewer who communicates to us, aesthetically. So it's about both.
+1 Wolf garcia. Sometimes reviewers are fun to read and can lead to new experiments by us. They re-wire how we conceive of something and that changes what we do. That's useful.
+1 bdp24 Expanding the audio vocabulary not only helps us describe what we hear, we hear differently and better with an expanded vocabulary. There are studies on smell which show this, too. More words increases acuity and sensorial perspicuity.
+1 @nonoise Reviews are a starting point, for sure. Sometimes I read reviews after I purchase, for confirmation or to see if I can now hear what the reviewer was hearing. Sometimes it's a mid-point. I've heard some gear and want to go listen again; but, in the meantime, I check out a review.
My main problem with reviews is that they are too positive. Critical or negative reviews have a higher burden of proof; they're forced to make a more detailed and stronger argument.
To take one example, Herb Reichert is a great describer of gear and what he hears, but I sometimes find that he's too in love with his own purple prose, prose that sells 40k speakers is win win for him, but it doesn't advance criticism very significantly. Just helps rich people part with their money with a better excuse than "I liked the buttons."