It is hard to understand how the measurements relate to sound and to make sure everything important is measured. That said unless a listening test is blinded and level matched most people will choose the louder sample or the one they a predisposed to like. Just like wine that is expensive tastes better non blinded.
Competent modern gear sounds great, speaker, room setup and room correction will outweigh everything else. I bet audible differences between the denon I have and the NAD upthread that measures worse are 99% the room correction algorithm if they exist.