Wilson's "Everything is Under Control" was another important one for me after the Illuminatus! Trilogy. That's what sent me down the path into Thomas Pynchon, Hakim Bey, Noam Chomsky, etc. Can't really turn back after that.

There's also the chance that microphones and signal analysis aren't the best metaphors for how ears and brains process sound. But if the audiophiles you're talking about are endoring $8500 mp3 players, maybe we're talking to different people. That does sound silly.