Yeah reviews, I feel for you there. Who to trust, well yourself is a good place to start. Commertial pressures constanly re invent the wheel to be whiter than white with 0.0005% distortion but it sounds like crap. The secret I have found is can you listen to it all day and still want to play more. Very few systems get past a couple of hours in a sober state let alone 12 or more hours. Systems which pull off this trick are the most natural sounding like electrostatics with valves, the rest are mere pretenders designed to whack you in the face with their superiority, I don't thinks so (IMV).
Ask Steve G and other experianced audio people. They may say something similar.
V
I know it may seem like an odd thing to say, but I have noticed another characteristic of a really fine system is it sounds good even before you enter the room. If youre not reacting to sound stage and impressed by the look of the system but it grabs you from afar it could be beguiling.....My two cents.......
Right on the money...that's when I know that the tone, timbre and dynamics are right...