Audio Reviews are not a one-way street. The Reader has to put in as much, maybe more, effort than the reviewer. You need to read a number of reviews over a sufficient time period involving equipment you are familiar with so that you know the reviewer. Essentially you should, at some point, know whether what this particular reviewer likes jives with what you like, or (just as useful) never likes what you like, or something in between (say, Michael Fremer prefers a more euphonic sound than I do, or some similar conclusion with a particular reviewer).
Only then can reviews provide useful information to a potential buyer. And then, of course, you have to get out and listen to the products to make your final decision.
Note that the above has nothing to do with whether you might be able to afford a product or not. (I am baffled by letters to the editor complaining about high priced components being reviewed. Of course I want to see reviews of products I can afford as well, but I don't understand someone who is uninterested in the State Of The Art).
I get just as much useful information about products I can't afford as those I can, because I can always listen to the products I can't afford somewhere and learn from my assessment versus the reviewer's assessment.
In any case, I always listen to products that cost a multiple of my budget whenever I'm buying, because I want to know how the best gear sounds and I want to get as much of that quality in the product I eventually choose. In fact my general process is to start with a product I can't afford, and work my way down in price until I get to the performance I won't put up with. I am then left with a blueprint for how much I must spend to get what I want, and can make a decision accordingly (buy or wait and save some more).
I have, by the way, found some outstanding bargains that way, spending in some cases half of what I would have bought had I just looked at my wallet and bought based on the bills I found there.
I am too poor to buy junk. Only the wealthy, who can afford to buy something twice, can afford junk.