My personal example is the speaker reviews John Atkinson did for Stereophile. A combination of subjective impressions and objective measurements gave me a baseline I could use to evaluate a speaker before arranging g to audition it. JA really likes the big Wilson’s and I sure don’t, but his review of the Sonus Faber Amati Futura gave me the info I needed to go audition a pair. While he gave them an A, he felt they were too laid back but very musical. That’s what I was looking for.
I still have my pair and think they are great speakers that match my tastes. I never would have auditioned them without his review.