Good questions. And I’m hardly even fuming… ;-)
1. We need good cables because they make a difference. Anyone that is skeptical of this should try and small number of different cables and see which they prefer. Viola, you’ll know there’s difference whether you can explain it empirically or not. So pick the ones that sound best to you.
2. I don’t expect my 2 channel system to play as if it were live music because that’s just not possible. It is not live. It will never be. Although it may sound very, very good and provide a lot of enjoyment to the listeners. A painting of pipe is not a pipe.