I really recommend Joshua from JHS pedal's YouTube channel. He's a man that simply loves pedals and he isn't about hyping his own brand but educating and having fun. This particular video is one that is near and dear to my heart as I think there's a lot of BS that start in some internet forum then over years becomes sort of sacred pedal laws that simply are untrue. Many guitarists and bassists then start demanding these features and so it gets used as marketing material, and it becomes a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy of idiocy.

My general view is that with sound it's not like something visual where you're like "oh that's blue" and "oh that's a darker shade of blue with some orange thrown in" cut and dry. With sound, it's hard to be objective and many times we hear things that aren't there, our opinions or what we've read (the opinions of other people) color or perception, or our feelings and moods get in the way. This is good for some pedal manufacturer that's trying to sell you his $3000 exclusive edition Klon centaur but not so good for your wallet.

Watch the video below but here's the breakdown in short:

1. True Bypass is better than buffered (It's not!)
2. Boutique is better (definitely not)
3. You can't copy that pedal (you can copy anything)
4. Germanium is better (no it's not. It's just what they had lying around back then.)
5. Through-hole is better than Surface Mount (NO!  Actually surface mount is often more reliable)
6. Magic op-amps in ODs (It's really not that important)