An argument I've heard for time/phase alignment is that it relieves your brain of the burden of reconstructing the sound as it originally was. The various frequencies that make up any sound are normally all related in time and most speakers don't preserve the relationship. Your brain is good at fixing this before you perceive the sound so you don't exactly hear the difference but you can sense the relief of your brain not needing to do the work.
I don't know if it's true but there are sure a lot of people that like Thiel, Vandersteen, etc. If I perceive it, and I think I do, it's a relaxing quality that other speakers don't have in my experience. It sounds more correct and I can just relax and listen.