"b but he has real gifi gear"?, Honestly, that means nothing, people keep using this as an excuse for credibility when it comes to critical listening, look at Tyll, he owned barely anything, left to live the hippy life with a couple of cheap BT cans under his arms, but he had experience and skill when it came to accessing headphones and audio. I have a stack of headphones and speakers, that might make me an audiophile but it certainly doesn't make me a skilled headphone or speaker reviewer, honestly, I don't get why people don't understand that there is a genuine skill involved in being able to convey into words what they hear, it's an art form, one that I envy, and on top of that to be able to do it objectively.
How do you personally judge someone's capability to review or access audio? Do you have any particular people you follow in the audiophile world?