What reviews do you trust if any?

3. JA's measurements of new gear,
4. reviews that go into detail about the piece itself, such as how it is constructed, parts used, and design information, all without undue hype,
5. the many pictures included with 6-Moons reviews, especially those of the insides of the gear.
Mitch2

Those are on my list also, especially love the pics on 6Moons. Another important piece of information is how the unit operated. For example, was the amp noisy, or did it have a finicky volume control.
I have made purchases based on reviews or get a high rating in Stereopile's recommended listing and been sorely disappointed. Have also been happy with gear purchased that way.

There will always be the 'one man's poison is another man's candy' element to subjective evaluation. The key is to hone in on the formal aspects of any review and decide if such features and benefits resonate with what you want to know about a given component. And, as I have said too many times in the past to remember the count, a component sounds the way it sounds in the context of a system, not in isolation. So the system must also and always be part of the 'poison' or 'candy' part of the perspective. I tend to focus on those aspects of a review that describe what it is like to actually listen to music in that context. Without that from an exampe point of view, it is almost impossible to understand what, 'sounds great' or 'superb slam' really mean.

I look for a consensus of opinions. If a component has several glowing reviews, I take it as a good sign

I also like the 6 Moons review approach.Good pictures,clear detail concerning,design,built quality and the designer`s objectives. They consistently make comparisons to competitor components and are willing to criticize when needed.

I like Jack Roberts at Dagogo.He places priority on musical values and the emotional- natural presentation of components.
Regards,

I always review the technical aspects of the review to see if the equipment is performing as the designer intended and is also performing as is should based on what it is. I'm not going to purchase any equipment that has rediculous distortion or if the specifications are well outside the norm for such equipment. I don't trust at all any equipment reviewer's thoughts on how they feel a piece of equipment sound. I have noticed that most reviewer's play around with other equipment in their system, their cables, power cords, etc. instead of either 1) connecting the equipment in their system as the manufacturer originally intended or 2) simply swapping the equipment like for like without playing with anything else. They also are very good at using terms and phrases in their reviews and never bother to define the terms or phrases and what they are talking about. They to me are making up elaborate terms or phrases simply to make themselves looks educated or smart. I have no problem with that, but please define the words and phrases your are using, so we know what the heck you are talking about. I trust my ears. I don't purchase an unknown piece of equipment without hearing if first in my system. And I only swap like for like and listen first to the differences. I also will do A/B comparisons often during my demo to make sure I hear and notice differences if any. I have read many reviews of equipment and listened to the equipment also and found my opinion was totally different than the reviewer's. Also, when manufacturers loan or give or sell equipment for less to the reviewers, that may slightly bias the reviewers opinion.