I’ve learned that I have to hold something in my hand, set it up and use it, live with it for a little while, before I know if I’ll like it. Some of that is build quality and control feel, some is sound, some is ineffable.
I know this is easier for some than others, but I would try. Get used gear and resell it when you’re done. It’s really worth it. It’s the only way to really grow in this hobby.
In the days before the web, almost nobody bought anything they didn’t hear first. Often multiple times. Relying strictly on reviews is lazy. One should first read about products that seem like they fit your needs, then you hear them, either through shows, dealers, or home auditions. The cost of travel to dealers or shows needs to be in your budget, as making mistakes can be costly and time consuming.
Once you have a sound you are after, you can tailor the system to make, for example, a speaker work.
While my speaker of choice, TAD, was the sound I was after, it took quite a few years of better gear becoming available (at least that I could afford) before all my criticisms went away. The speakers were so revealing that I was hearing the problems upstream, since I couldn’t afford a something like a DCS stack. It has taken over 10 years with these speakers to get the system to a point where it is now, and I’m still awaiting upgrades (custom transformers in my DSMKII Dac)
Once you have an established system, If you read multiple people with your same gear touting a component or tweak, then going off online reviews is probably a good bet.
Luckily however, today gear is much more neutral than in the past, so the odds of random components working well together is much higher, IMHO.