I know that I’m an audiophile and am overly sensitive by nature.
What I’ve perceived from this forum suggests the OP’s point may have merit.
I’ve never really spent time with audiophiles in the person-to-person/physical realm, I’ve just seen how often people jump so quickly to an elevated level of nastiness on this forum.
It sounds like OP has non-cyberspace experience with overly sensitive audiophiles, which I think is even better evidence to support a theory that audiophiles may be overly sensitive types by nature.
I might suggest that “nurture” (as opposed to ‘nature’) may be at play, as well.
Audiophiles are infamous for snobbery and condescension. Perhaps that causes some audiophiles to enter into conversations with other audiophiles with a leading edge of defensiveness and sensitivity.