Why so many angry audiophiles?

sojourn98,

Tell us how you really feel.

This thread is meant for that.

Anything that exhibits a high level of emotional involvement is bound to engender an elevated degree of conflict over choices made to enjoy such....

Vivaldi vs. Van Halen, and how to listen with what where when and why.  So much like sport fans, overlaid with more than just whose jersey one shoulders.... *S*
At least we don't sit in stadiums smeared with team colors wagging foam hands....or do we?

Tubes, or tragedy.  Solid States of sibilance. The A, A/B, D factions struggle over the possession of Truth and Beauty.

"VTA, VTA, all is involved in VTA!"....one can almost hear the chant of the section, while the digital division debates a retort...

Pretty damn funny, if one steps to one side of the crowds... ;)
All this, for bliss....truly transient, totally engrossing edification.

What a wonderful motley mess we is. (Hope your team 'wins'....*G*)

Enjoy your music by whatever means is meaningful to you.
'Nuff said....

Some interesting quotes from Einstein. 

"Hail to the man who went through life always helping others, knowing no fear, and to whom aggressiveness and resentment are alien."

"The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance."

"Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution."

"I speak to everyone in the same way, whether he is the garbage man or the president of the university."

"I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am."

"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods."

What does this have to do with the OP? Nothing, directly. But it does apply to a common occurrence found on these threads. If you've been on these threads for any length of time you will know exactly what this post is about. +1 to mapman and +1 to inna and +1 to any others who have shown compassion for others.

Perhaps because of my age I have recently developed a certain intense dislike for the over abundance of self-righteousness I perceive around me in social media as well  as another forms of media.  Regardless of the subject matter politics, religion, love, sexual inclinations, and yes speakers and cables,  ..I forgot the great dialectic about analog versus digital ,  it appears that this psychological malady is permeating our social fabric. Since I think it would be challenging to treat those individuals suffering from this malady, the best we can do is to treat its manifestation, so it does not infect the rest of us. How?  Since ego plays such important role in the attitude of the self-righteous a possible solution is the use of shame. Hence language is the tool, we should not stand indifferent or silent to any instance, but point out how laughable that utterance is, the intensity of the ridicule measured to the degree of stupidity of the  self-righteous manifested in its message, not only based on its content but as important in the tone of voice used to deliver it. 
I hope I am forgiven, it’s too early and I have not had my first cup of coffee.

OP: Good question. It has been one of the thing most likely to abandon the forum. While you posed it as a rhetorical question, my assumption is that we can’t just "call on our better natures" to stop being angry. We need to think about why it’s happening.

Here are a couple thoughts. I’m sure there are other reasons. This is a forum and I’m spitballing.

1. We are in a culture where debate is modeled constantly for us on television and other popular media. There, disagreement must be stark and dramatic or it’s not entertaining. If it’s not entertaining, it’s not watchable and people turn away -- and the purpose of TV is to make money. This is why it’s called an "Attention Economy."

So, many of us (consciously or unconsciously) repeat the way we see argument modeled on TV. That leads to anger in our lives.

2. Political debate has become more acrimonious because it takes place largely according to its dominant format -- TV. (See point 1 above.). We create political debates (in tone, form) out of debates about audio. We need to stop doing that. As you point out, we’re debating over luxury items.

3. People ask questions they care about, but these wind up requiring deeper technical knowledge or greater experience than most on the forum have. Yet, it’s no fun to participate in a forum and not write *something.* When people get a bull-hockey answer or a half-assed answer to a question they care about, it annoys them, and they express that. Or -- their question is just ignored. Conflict is now lit.

4. Relative anonymity leads people to say things they wouldn’t in person. For some reason, people think that they can discharge whatever off-forum anger they have, here. Weird thing about anger, though. Unlike the "catharis" theory of anger -- the idea that anger is like pressure that needs to be "released" -- acting in angry ways just makes you (and others) angrier. (See: "Venting doesn’t work even among people who believe in the value of venting, and even among people who report feeling better after venting (Bushman, Baumeister, & Stack, 1999). In fact, venting has the opposite effect—it increases aggression. The better people feel after venting, the more aggressive they are. Venting can even increase aggression against innocent bystanders." https://alltheragescience.com/commentary/four-questions-on-the-catharsis-myth-with-dr-brad-bushman/ )