Good stands can make a real difference. I paid that much for Dayton High Mass Steel stands. I filled them with alternating layers of lead shot and sand. The Atacama Nexus 6i should be good, but make sure you fill them with clean sand or spring for the 30

Ironically, "bookshelf" speakers almost always sound best on stands. Unless of course they were specifically designed to be used on bookshelves, which those speakers were not. Getting them away from room boundaries (walls) will smooth out the bass response, increase soundstaging depth/width, and usually help to create a stronger center image too.

As a former recording engineer, I tend to be very skeptical about tweaks. But the proper placement of a loudspeaker is not optional if you want good sound. It will probably make more difference than throwing tens of thousands of dollars at fancy electronics.
One reason to get stands is just that it allows you to place the speakers in the best position in your room for proper frequency response, soundstaging, etc. The other reason is to give the speakers a solid, vibration-free surface to sit on.

I doubt you need anything very fancy, but it does make a big difference to have a stand you can fill with sand and/or lead shot to give it a bunch of mass. I was surprised how much it changed the sound of my B&W "bookshelf" speakers when I filled my stands with lead.

Then you need some way to de-couple the speakers from the stand. I found that Blu-Tak was a very cheap and effective solution for that. It's a sort of sticky, gummy substance that you can buy at office supply stores (or at least you used to be able to).

honestly, i've found that a pair of cinder blocks are the most cost effective way to get great sound from a pair of bookshelf speakers. it's more about placement of the speakers in the room (there's a great post on this).

I've never tried cinder blocks since they wouldn't fit my wife's sense of room decor. But it makes some sense that they'd sound good since they're so massive. Might be tricky, though, to get some speakers to the correct height from the floor. But I guess that's true of some stands as well.

Mapleshade recommends tipping back smaller speakers on short maple block platforms and firing them up at an angle. I would love to hear from anyone that has tried this method. They say the difference is profound.