@alpha1:
There are factual and objective aspects of reviews, as well as subjective aspects which cannot be quantified. And both are necessary.
The measured reviews are, unfortunately, not easily understandable to the buying public. To the person who understands such things, for example the impulse response of the device under test to a 1 kHz test tone (or a 19 kHz test tone) of -10 dBm level, it may say and mean a lot for that person. But to the rest of the world, they don't mean much because they have not understood the meaning of those impulse responses. And the reviewers don't usually bother to explain what the readings mean to the music reproduction. And even if they do, what does 1 kHz test tone serve? Why not a sweep of the full audio spectrum? Why subjectively choose 1 kHz (or was it 19 kHz)? Please note this is just an example, and not a rant against impulse response per se.
A common, or near-common understanding of the subjective aspects of reviews is possible when one assumes that the subjective terms mean essentially the same thing to most people. As in any specialised field of human endeavour, audio reviewing has its share of argot, and it is incumbent upon the reader to understand the specialised language used to describe the subjective perception of the reviewer.
And let us give it to most reviewers to maintain rigours when reviewing despite the difficulties imposed by the very subjective nature of the act.