Funny, I read the same article in a different place today.
I'm a believer in some aspects of audiophile stuff, but I also think some of it is complete crap. I've had big arguments with friends of mine who have spent hundreds on interconnects (the cables that connect the DVD player to the amp, for example), or hundreds on rubber "isolation feet" that your components sit on to isolate them from cosmic vibrations or something... that sort of thing.
I do believe that good audiophile gear sounds better than cheap consumer gear, but unfortunately this whole thing is muddied by all the nonsensical ideas that audiophiles insist on putting out there. I think the placebo effect is very strong with subjective judgments like audio gear comparison, wine comparison, etc.