I get that this is a Thiel thread, but since amplification and cables are being made part of the discussion...
If you ever wonder why our hobby isn’t taken seriously by the majority of
sensible people on earth, watching an audiophile recommend that someone should spend $100,000 on amps and a minimum of $50,000 on cables for a high end speaker should be your first clue.
It seems those of us with a skeptical bone in our body are supposed to button our lips in the face of such conversations, for the good of the clan, but sometimes that’s not easy to do. Especially insofar as it makes a hobby that you love seem crazier than something you want to be involved in. This tends to be when I need to step away from the hobby just for the sake of my sanity.