Why Don't More People Love Audio?

I'm sorry Eagleman67722 but I disagree w/ your point (2).
IMHO, analytical listening is exactly what will drive people away from audio!
One needs to do analytical listening but only when setting up the system i.e. buying the gear, placing it, speaker positioning, room acoustics fine tuning & tweaking it. Once that is done, hopefully the listener will be listening to music rather than listening to the sound of his stereo (as you have suggested). The gear is just a means to an end. Judicious selection is paramount to getting to that "end" but after the selection, it's time to play music. If one continues w/ analytical listening, one is totally missing the point. Anyway, just my 2 cents. FWIW.

Eagleman6722,
Ok! I now see what YOU mean by "analytical". OK, each time I read "analytical" in your text, I'll substitute it with my equivalent word for it - "discriminating". To me "analytical" means somebody critically dissecting the sound into dynamics, soundstage width & height, transparency, air, blah, blah.... All those audiophile words you might have read time & again.
I think what you are after is good & excellent recordings that make the music sound more real rather than the mass-produced CDs you find @ Walmart. Am I right? If so, in my words you are a discriminating music listener rather than an analytical music listener. Anyway, IMHO. FWIW. YMMV.