I like reading ASR and I’m one who laughs at anyone who spends 5k on a power conditioner or regenerator and has literal sadness for anyone that spends more than 200 on a power cord.
i started with a topping d10 DAC That ASR measures as almost perfect. Didn’t sound any better than my iPhone direct. Then I got the Ares II DAC which gets rave reviews - definitely absolutely sounded better. For 900 bucks I’d say was worth it but it wasn’t amazing difference and almost subtle in many ways.
Then I couldn’t help myself and sold the Ares and got the Pontus for 2k. WOW huge difference and improvement. Couldn’t believe how much better it could be. I won’t use all the different annoying adjectives audiophiles use like “airy” and “organic” (ok maybe I will).
That was just my experience your milage may vary but your cousin doesn’t sound like he knows what he is talking about.
and anyone who says “ASR” is nonsense is one of those people that spends 5k on a power chord. ASR measures electrical characteristics which is real. Now how that translates to sound quality is a different story and ASR doesn’t measure that. So no. - don’t use ASR to determine sound quality. Use it to determine if a device makes any difference (like cables don’t) and if a high end device measures well as it should (and most do) as a proxy for design and build quality.