WRT evaluating audio equipment, I find AI to be a database management tool (sort of like the box of Stereophile magazines many audiophiles used to keep), that also provides a level of cognitive and predictive analysis (sort of like an audio publication reviewer or a sales person at your local audio shop). The result is information that a user can choose to consider to whatever degree, or not at all.
Some may use AI for tactical information, i.e., does DAC X or Y provide a better S/N ratio? Others use it for more strategic input, i.e., if my preferences are for hard hitting bass, extended high frequencies, a maximum level of detail, and front-row, in-the-room soundstaging, which of the following DACs should sound best to me, and why?
The result is still simply information, not much different from a manufactuer’s marketing verbiage, a salesperson’s spiel, a reviewer’s conclusion, or a forum poster’s exclamations. Like any information, from whatever source, the end user will need to decide how much weight to give to it. Like most folks, I would never blindly accept information I receive from AI, without first comparing it to my own experiences, and whatever other information or data I can accumulate on the issue. As several here have mentioned, hearing a component or speakers for yourself (preferrably in your own system) remains the gold standard.
