I love Audio Circle and have made several purchase decisions mainly based on posts here, such as for Linear Tube Audio and Omega Audio. A couple of things to consider though. As a site, AC has a large number of vendor forums. This is mostly a big plus. The only problem is that many owners congregate here and so have already formed opinions about specific products. It is not that they are trying to sway or influence but they may have developed a point of view. So I would consider asking this question on some other forums also.
All forums have distinct personalities. You'll find folks gravitating to specific products on any forum you visit. Just the nature of the beast. Bottom line is that forums are the best option to "demo" audio gear. Most of us don't have the luxury of buying audio components and returning them if they don't suit our needs. Like you said, trade shows suck. What remains are the opinions of others via forums like AC.
Being an audiophile means spending years, perhaps decades, of constantly trading out gear. Very few forum members have the same main system they had 5 years ago. Half of us have probably changed something out since the beginning of 2021.
