I came to this community because I read Amir's (and others) review f the Gustard X16 and bought it. But I noticed after it had time to burn in that the bass seemed to be dull. So I bought the Ares 2 to see if that had any improvement as the Ares 2 gets rave reviews. There was definitely improvement in the bass and there were other subtle differences so I returned the X16. Maybe it's the difference of a R2R vs a chip DAC. Maybe it's the dry January...but there is an audible difference.
I am mostly on another audio site for 15 years that is a mix of people and a pretty good one. ASR does have a reputation as being only measurement oriented and not very tolerant of other views outside of that (this is the nice way of saying it). You have shown that to be true. I am a science oriented person, but I still acknowledge that science has current limits that is being extended on a daily basis. Metaphysics is tomorrows science. I think people should be more reasonably tolerant of others views when it comes to a hobby, I am guessing, we all enjoy.