Or it really does come down to audition with your own ears because not only can you not know what another prefers, they may or may not be honest in their own right?
Yes. Not so much a question of honesty but of finding out if you like it. It is not just a blind idiom, but another man’s meat can be another’s poison. One thing I’ve learned is that if any flaw or preference or trait is professed by a reviewer, you can bet the actuality is more serious. E.g. "a slightly warm recessed treble" = dull and plodding!