Agree or disagree with the following statement.

If opinions were limited to only what one has heard this whole forum would be about 1/4 the size it is today.

Then again, it is usually impossible to comment on a single component when heard in the context of an entirely unknown system, with speakers and cables and room and electronics that are new to you too.

But ... none of that stops anyone from venturing an opinion on anything.

At some point, measurements will be telling, but usually I thinks it's a mistake to judge a product solely on its specs. It's usually a good idea to listen before reaching a conclusion.

In fact, I'd go a step further and say that - Even if you HAVE heard a component, it's tough to definitively have an opinion of how it sounds. System matching and ESPECIALLY room matching are critical.

You can look at specs and rule out a component for use in a given application - a mini monitor that's down 10db at 100hz probably won't do well in a 5,000 cubic foot room, but that doesn't mean that it sounds bad. A really poorly designed product (horrible on-axis response and power response in a loudspeaker, for instance) is probably a decent indicator that a product won't sound good in any application, but IME such products are pretty rare.

Wolf is correct. Give that man a silver dollar.

"Statement:

If you have never listened to any particular component, you can't have an opinion on how it sounds."

Disagree. how good something sounds is always an opinion. Some more educated than others. Specs are merely on set of data provided by the maker that one can assess in order to formulate a more educated opinion. Measurements add more detailed information to work with usually if done well, as typically seems to be the case with Stereophile.

I will agree you can't know how any particular case will sound until you hear. No two are exactly the same. Each case includes room and listener in addition to gear. No two will ever be 100% the same. With trained ears focused in on things, all it takes is a fraction of a percent difference to matter.

I disagree with any argument that one cannot have an opinion unless one actually hears. WHat one says about one what hears is an opinion as well. What matters more is the opinions of many over an extended period of time. Then you probably have something you can bank on.

The problem is that the current regime of test and measurements is not based on human hearing/perceptual rules except in some very basic, almost vestigial ways (such as frequency response).

As a result sometimes the specs are counterintuitive; for example ultra low distortion should come off as neutral and good, but often in reality sounds dry and slightly on the bright side.

The idea behind the specs is to know you are buying quality- it should be borne out on the bit of paper. But until that bit of paper is designed to agree with how human perceptual rules work (and mind you, this has nothing to do with taste or preference) the paper can often wind up nearly meaningless.

So as others have wisely pointed out, you simply have to audition it to know if you will be able to live with it. The fact that this has been true for the last 50 years should really speak to how poorly bench specs sit with human hearing rules.