What are we objectivists missing?

Your concept is correct but you have to measure everything that matters and some things like frequency response and distortion are only part of the story. And these examples are essentially static measurements and music is dynamic not static. so even if you use only some measures, not all, at least use dynamic measurements like dynamic linearity which while not the entire story by far does correlate subjectively well to fidelity to the input

What  are objectivists missing? Trust in their senses, which may be good thing in that certain individuals have a less developed aural acuity.

My opinion on this is the following: is there a difference between 2 cables at $100  vs. $1,000; obviously.  Will ypu hear a difference, yes.  How muxh of the difference, a very small percentage.  Is it worth it? I dom't believe so. A system that cost $1k vs $10k will have poaitives and negatives.  At the end, we're here to listen to good music. It comes down to personal taste and satisfaction.  Some people who has disposable inxome will need to spend $100k on a sound system, and thats okay. I love to try new equipment to see if I can hear some differences.

After treading through the various forum posts re cables for the various uses we apply them to, be it amp>speakers, source>pre, pre>amp, et all.....

It still seems to me that the 'better' one's equipment is, or is in one's perception of what is played in the environment that it is done in...

...that what one experiences is a very subtle form of eq.

One may purport that cable Q is superior in their instance, while for others they stink in relation to cable R...or F...or whatever.

Granted, I've not had the pleasure to experience personally such gratifications beyond the occasional 'listening sesh'...in an entirely different space with equipment I've no personal experience with to any great degree.

In short: If your boat floats better, have at it.  Tell us about it; those who can indulge obviously may do so to whatever degree desired.

I've not heard every conceivable combination of equipment in one space that would allow for a critical opinion that would hold up under any and all scrutiny.

Not likely to, either.  So it comes down to pleasing oneself to whatever level one desires to take it to.

If one wants to regard me as a nasty narrow-minded jade...I'm good with that.

Been called worse...mostly on the highway, when a Focus keeps showing up in front of your Porsche in the other lane you didn't take.... ;)