Manufacturer's claims come easy (although most vendors choose to ignore rather than address these fundamentals). That's the value in professional reviews that include measurements (for the first 3 qualities) where pretenders can be weeded out. Obviously these qualities don't come cheap, so audiophiles (and studio professionals) normally compromise.
Attributes #5 and 6 is where the speaker turns from an audiophile's toy into a professional's tool. I see this as a necessity for the professional and certainly not a slam against the product. It's the audiophile's decision if he's willing to accept #5 and 6 or not, but we should be honest about our desire for ruthlessly analytical reproduction or being entertained at a high level (I'm not passing judgement here, just recommending honesty for our own sake and that of the vendors). In my opinion this is where the professionals and the audiophiles part ways. This lack of honestly is where I see whatever offense as being taken (by the proud audiophile and/or the frustrated vendor/manufacturer in trying to build what we say we want versus what we really want). And this lack of honesty is why the professionals dismiss audiophiles.
A car analogy comes to mind: a race car (stripped down to the essentials for going fast) versus a luxury sedan (that goes relatively fast but with far greater comfort). The race car would be very unforgiving of driver mistakes or bumps in the road, without A/C or radio could be boring, and on a non-challenging drive quite bland while the luxury sedan would be the better choice under a wider range of 'real world' scenarios for driving enjoyment.
