I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I just turned 69 and my hearing has a deficit around the 2.5Khz area and goes back up and supposedly, I can't hear above 14Khz but I do hear what I hear.
I think that what we're hearing as too forward or edgy lies in the upper midrange and not in the treble so much. Until I got my new speakers the sound above the mids was too engaging and almost glass like and I think it's the metallic drivers used. I have pots to trim the mids and highs on the JBLs and when I got the edge down to where it was acceptable, I lost everything else in the range that needed to be there. There was no happy medium as every recording reacted/sounded different to the new setting.
I think you're right about Technics doing things differently than others. There are similar brands that use digital amps but not in the same way as Technics.
All the best,
Nonoise