It’s only a lost cause, if you think the purpose is to convince the audiophools that the SQ improvements they think they hear — due to ethernet cables, switches, etc. — aren’t real. The only thing which could ever convince them of that is if they did a blind test. Which, of course, is why none of them would ever dare do that.
If the purpose is to inform people like the OP, who genuinely want to know whether “audiophile” ethernet cables and switches can make a difference, then it’s far from a lost cause.
There are sound scientific reasons, backed up by measurements which say that they can’t. Bringing that information forward is useful to those who are not already lost to science and reason.