Looking at the IEMs one reviewer liked and comparing with my own experience with those particular models and then extrapolating to new ones is an approach I have applied in the past, with good success. Also, the music they listen to tells me if I can rely on their review for myself or not. The main issue being that in the end I do buy blindly. And because I live in Europe, many models are not easy to find/import. So I need a rough estimate if I will like it or not. It may not be scientifically correct, but science tells me that once I have the Traillii, I can stop. And yet, here I am, trying to decide, based on somebody else's written notes, what my next purchase should be. It's tough.I think what's important is to find who writes reliable impressions that you can bounce off of and triangulate if an IEM is interesting enough to track down. "Reliable" does not mean "likes the same sound" or "knows what you like".
Case in point, at Dublin meetup my takeaway was the Omnium is bright (via usual WM1Z og). Not bright like Ultrasone Ed 10 in Tyll's infamous reaction video. But bright. Some forum posts and online magazines describe that set as "very balanced" and use subheadings that would not be out of place on a movie trailer. Which is absolutely fine, as i file Omnium under "not interesting" and move on
With regard to genre specific sets, mentioned by someone else, I find it plausible that some sets perform great with folk music, but not with extreme metal, for example. So I never discard a set only because someone said it's good for rap, for example. I derive some info from there, where the emphasis in the bass range is, how likely it is for that person to look for intricate cymbals work, etc. If you want a clear example, I use two different guitar amps, for different tones. Is it reasonable to expect an IEM to play all the music the same?
The point I'm trying to make is that in a perfect world, I'd just try everything, even based on design, why not? Pleasure cab come from all senses, not sound alone. But we live in the real world, where each of us devises his own system for evaluating something before buying. And all systems are equally valid, because they are all individual. What works for me might be idiotic to another and it's fine, as he won't have to listen to my set, my music, with my ears and with my brain. Otherwise, we'd just look at the FR graph and things would be much simpler.
So far, I was right about Storm, Maven 2, based on selected reviews. Wrong about Viking and others. Whether this info is of any relevance to others, it remains to be seen.
If anyone is kind enough to lend me a Macbeth, I'm all ears, so to speak
. No really, 2023 was wild, but I have sold some stuff, and have slowed down buying during this last year. Could have been worse, I could have been collecting full size speakers! 
