I don't use all those bench mark sites to make my decisions.
It's not "all those benchmark sites".
It is just ONE site. A single site.
Back in the day, we could say, Stereo Review, Home Theater Magazine, Sound & Vision, Stereophile, Soundstage, AH, etc. confirmed the numbers - multiple 3rd party independent publications.
Today we have ONE.
And as you say, it's not the end-to-all since 100% of these numbers are 100% INAUDIBLE anyway. So it's not like any of these numbers are proven to show better Sound Quality, Reliability, Compatibility, or anything else.
One guy doing his measurements and people treat it like it's the end-to-all decision making. It's funny.
Back when we had multiple 3rd party measurements, I don't ever recall seeing this kind of almost cult-like treatment. So I guess we can thank S&V, Stereophile, Soundstage, and AH for no longer doing measurements.