They have so little regard at ASR for actually listening to components that they don’t even bother listening to them. Amir performs all these tests and I don’t believe he listens to a single one or even has a reference system to drop the component in to get an impression. I read someone post here asking why the OP doesn’t take his post over there to get their reaction. Just read some of the posts there to find out. They are all a bunch of evangelical engineers who come down like a gang in mass on any one who even implies "but I like the way it sounds" just like a fundamentalist church comes down on someone questioning Adam & Eve or Noah's Ark.
I used to follow their rankings because I thought well maybe at least they would identify a component that is a disaster but no longer. Why, because a few months ago I started listening again to my MHDT Orchid Tube DAC which as you probably all know is an R2R ladder DAC and I was amazed at the quality of music it was producing over my delta sigma DAC’s, especially with acoustical music like traditional jazz which I mostly listen too. Out of curiosity I looked on the ASR site and Amir had ranked the MHDT Pagoda DAC, which is the same as the Orchid DAC but with XLR outputs as the WORST DAC THEY HAVE EVER MEASURED. They have the Pagoda DAC at the farthest right in the red scale with the lowest ranking. Never even bothered listening to it.
What’s sad is a lot of people new to audio go there to get recommendations. I really don’t care if engineers who can’t hear differences in components use the ASR guide for purchases. But I do care that some newer audiophiles who may be able to hear the differences never get a chance until it’s too late. And worse, ASR does wield a lot of power and influence and can hurt a company producing good audio products. I notice now that MHDT is no longer sold domestically in the US through a US distributor as it used to be. You now have to order one directly from MHDT in Taiwan.