Audio reviews are like wine reviews. I like to hear what experienced and knowledgeable reviewers have to say about gear (and wine). I’ll never sit in front of some of the high end gear nor drink a bottle of Petrus, but I like to read about it. I’ve run across new music reading reviews and find how the reviewer describes aspects of the music produced. Helps me when I’m listening to my rig.
Reviews have influenced some of my buying decisions; most notably my move into electrostatic speakers. When I wanted to try some new speakers, I remembered many times that reviewers compared a speaker midrange to Quads; or they’d remind the reviewer of the first time they heard Quads, etc. With nothing more than that, I found some ESL 63s here on AGon for a reasonable price. Never looked back.
Because I think engineering matters, I like reviews that provide measurements and subjective commentary. But the numbers aren’t the whole story. As @mahgister points out, the story is told in how gear fits together into a system and into your acoustic environment.