The Audio Science Review (ASR) approach to reviewing wines.

I'm not an ASR disciple, I've invested in some cables and don't believe measurements tell the whole story, but measurements at a minimum seem to add useful context. I don't buy into Amir's philosophy by any means, but his posts here have been civil, at least the ones I've read. Certainly more civil than many of the responses he gets. Amir, Gene and the other "objectivists" add useful information, but not the last word as their more pedantic followers assert.  

The ones I don't respect are the reviewers who say that measurements don't matter and blind tests are invalid. One suspects that the most important characteristic of a product for them is that they received a free copy to review.

Lastly, I don't know about the wine analogy-I'm in the middle of bourbon country and that process is filled with chemistry and measurements. The difference is that if you have a set of cheap, poorly made speakers, the third song you hear through them will sound as bad as the first. On the other hand, as you get past the third glass of Kentucky Gentleman, it will taste more and more like Pappy. Burn in, I suppose.

@donavabdear 

i’ve never thought about it in that way and that’s an interesting perspective. Not sure I completely agree with the conclusion, but certainly an interesting premise

You make excellent points about the rigor that must be applied to testing as well as other potential issues. I suspect most of us are at an age where there are not a lot of golden ears in the group.

I'm most certainly not an ASR follower. I've invested in relatively high end cables, a good DAC, etc., and I generally believe that electronic components matter a great deal. I don't, however, dismiss Amir, Gene, Erin and other objectivists out of hand nor do I have an emotional response to their point of view because it differs from mine.

I'm a little closer to agnostic particularly when it comes to some of the cables, switches, etc. What I know about science wouldn't fill a thimble compared to some of the EEs on here but I know a little about business. I know that if a cable company-pick any of them-set up a juried, independently verified completely professional blind testing that was seen as unbiased with no room for tricks-ABX-whatever-and filmed it live and if the participants in statistically significant majorities picked their cables over competitors, or even much cheaper cables, switches, etc, that company would experience a great surge in orders and would reap a big reward. These companies are run by rational business leaders. It bothers me that as far as I know, none of them do that, because why wouldn't they? I'm not an "objectivist" but that bothers me.

Not looking for a fight-I'm happy for folks who find products that enhance their experience even if its buying rocks to put around the room-whatever works for you. Its an interesting question though.