Nicely put. I would only add the frequently used fallacy of logic known as a red herring.I think that in discussions many people believe that their subjective perceptions and preferences are the objective truth. That is a problem.
Certainly, there are objective, even measurable truths out there that many use, and legitimately can use, to support their subjective preferences. Also, discussion of technical issues can be informative and fun. It can separate facts from technical misunderstandings, too.
Yet what many do not want to admit, or do not realize, is that objective truths in audio do not stand on their own.
Both:
a) the selection of objective truths and
b) the assignment of importance to them
as a tool to justify subjective preferences are -- well, subjective.
Certainly, experts like audio designers, recording engineers etc. will have deep objective knowledge in important areas, but also *their* subjective preferences and biases will always be with them and guide their work to a significant extent, as well as their private enjoyment.
This brings me to another point. Many posters cite experts using the argument from authority. Discussions then often devolve into slugfests of "I have the objective truth, because my expert is better than yours!". Of course, nobody says it that way, but that's what they really mean.
Yet again, since also experts have their own subjective perceptions and preferences, appeal to experts is no way out either. Experts can add interesting perspectives, nothing more.
The fact is that in the end, all we have left is our subjective perceptions and preferences. There is no objective truth in support of them that will allow us to impose our subjective perceptions and preferences onto others.
A little humility in recognizing this may go a long way towards civilized discussion.
Example, someone says they think the sound of analogue sounds more real to them than digital, then follows a red herring, that digital is “more accurate” (trying to infer that digital is more real sounding because that part of the analogue wave form that was measured into bits and bytes will be converted more or less as it was sampled from the analogue signal), thus more real?