ARE AUDIOPHILES OVERLY SENSITIVE BY NATURE?FEELINGS AND OPINIONS?

I see it this way:

(a) people have first hand experience with perceptible differences in quality

and

(b) people have first hand experience spending money.

Because of (a) and (b):

(c) people believe they have the "right" to opine on an inordinately complicated field (psychoacoustics)

Of course, the space opened up between opinion and knowledge creates room for a lot of BS, marketing speak, and self-righteous blather results. And now everyone wants to be an "influencer."

Is this more true in audio than in other fields? Probably -- because of (c). Most of us are not trying to shoot from the hip about oncology or particle physics.

But perhaps wine and car and fishing hobbyists might disagree. They would probably testify to their own tribe as being especially sensitive.

I beg to differ about simple basic fact in psycho-acoustic which are easy to find reading and easy to experiment with ...

You make a good point. I guess what I wanted to say is that many audiophiles offer opinions which would only be justified without any basic psychoacoustics. You're right that some basics are not that hard to pick up, and experiment with, but many people don't even do that and many more venture out beyond the simple understandings and claim things which really requires deeper knowledge.

Absolutely! If people did the three things you mention...

• Basic acoustics -- reflections and frequency curves
• Basic electrical noise to signal ration optimization
• Vibration resonance control

...there would be far more satisfaction in the hobby.