In the case of the Ultegra I mentioned, the chirp was only for a short time past the 900km mark before I relubed it. I can't ride with noisy chains, and anything making a noise is consuming energy.
The problem with modern chains is that the narrower they become, the less metal they have available to wear away, and so the percentage wear rate, in my estimation, is much higher on nine-speed and especially now 10-speed chains compared with wider chains.
I have got over 10,000km on a set of eight-speed chainset, cogs and chain and probably could have gone another 5,000km but I sold the bike as-is. I can still get between 5,000km and 10,000km on nine-speed. I have seen no need to go to 10-speed.
Incidentally, it's not the pins where the lube is most important, it's around the shoulders of the sideplates that support the rollers. On modern chains, the pins basically are there to keep the assembly together. The real action occurs between the rollers and the sideplate shoulders, at least until the shoulders wear out... by which time the chain is totally useless because it has elongated so far.
Sheldon also made an interesting point in that referenced article -- that with modern chains, lubing the chain with traditional lubes (as opposed to zona's wax) actually helps to flush some of the crud out because of the link design, compared with old-style chains.
I've been experimenting with this on my fixed gear and commuter bike, that both have beefier chains than 9 speed.
I haven't cleaned the 6-speed commuter chain in around 6,000km; it has had the lube washed out a lot this past Australian winter with rain and big puddles; and all I have done when it has got noisy is, relube it.
The FG chain (1/8th) likewise hasn't been off the bike in over 4,000km for a cleaning.
Of course, if you want shiny clean, then I'm not really your man.
On my geared bikes, I have tried to standardise to 9-speed Shimano (while 9sp road is still available). It means I can swap and change things like chains between MTB and road, as well as cogs and even chainsets (eg, my tourer is equipped with one as well as the MTB). I can get spares when they are offered cheap and don't have to fret over whether my bikes will accept them.
The commuter and FG are my workhorses, so they will still have more robust, low-maintenance transmissions on them.