Phase2
I agree with your entire post. I'm in the same frame of mind. But, since you asked, the last time somebody with several hundred thousand dollars worth of speakers offered to show them off, I thought of this morning. Not an exact parallel, but close enough.
Paul McGowan of PS Audio built a helluva music room for a muliti hundred thousand dollar set of speakers. He's made a set of videos on the build and the finished product. He plays Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon to demo the finished room. He's my kind of guy for musical tastes.
Anyway, the point of me writing all this jibberish is that he sources his digital music through a humble Mac Mini just like I do. A guy who can, and has, spent a fortune on audio gear ( a real freakin fortune) chose a humble Mac Mini just like mine. He has other digital sources too and he has one of those super high end star trek looking turntables for vinyl so its not an exclusive thing.
But a guy who can spend anything he wants made the same choice as me in my little music room. I'm very happy with that . Oh, and BTW, Paul has an open invitation to come to Boulder and listen to his setup. He is in the audio business so his agenda isn't entirely platonic.
Enjoyed your post