Cables that measure the same but (seem?) to sound different


I have been having an extended dialogue with a certain objectivist who continues to insist to me that if two wires measure the same, in a stable acoustic environment, they must sound the same.

In response, I have told him that while I am not an engineer or in audio, I have heard differences in wires while keeping the acoustic environment static. I have told him that Robert Harley, podcasters, YouTuber's such as Tarun, Duncan Hunter and Darren Myers, Hans Beekhuyzen, Paul McGowan have all testified to extensive listening experiments where differences were palpable. My interlocutor has said that either it is the placebo effect, they're shilling for gear or clicks, or they're just deluded.

I've also pointed out that to understand listening experience, we need more than a few measurement; we also need to understand the physiology and psychological of perceptual experience, as well as the interpretation involved. Until those elements are well understood, we cannot even know what, exactly, to measure for. I've also pointed out that for this many people to be shills or delusionaries is a remote chance at best.

QUESTION: Who would you name as among the most learned people in audio, psychoacoustics, engineering, and psychology who argue for the real differences made by interconnects, etc.?
128x128hilde45
Define: "measures the same." Cables don’t measure the same. That is not the argument. The argument is that you can’t hear the differences. That’s Gene’s argument at Audiochokerholics and they are the leading BS artists in the debunking game. 
There are obviously, at least, 2 diverse opinions here, and various attempts at subjective and objective evidence.  On the one hand people 'say' they can hear differences but most often when tested this appears not to be the case. Expert listeners rarely do better than chance in double blind tests. On the other hand we have an assumption that if two things when tested measure the same they must sound the same, this assumes that the test or tests actually measures everything we can hear. Is this true, for instance if I blind test soup with a thermometer then both tomato and chicken can measure the same however they sure as hell won't taste the same. 
It’s up to you to stand up for the facts: 
Different cables measure differently. People unwilling to pay for better cables, prey upon those that will allow themselves to bullied by misrepresenting the facts, to cover up the fact that they are poor cheapskates or skinflints. It’s not that they’re feeling great about "their knowledge" on the subject, they’re trying to cover up their knowledge at your expense and using "the best defense is a good offense" method of intellectual dishonesty (that’s taught in cults like Scientology). Keep allowing them to shove their BS your way and you’ll soon be asking others to join you for a bite, or at least drop by the little safe place you made on the Internet to discuss it. 
We measure what we measure. When we don't measure or at least account for the difference in what many people hear, does that make a difference? You look at an apple, quantum physics says there is more than just an apple.. What we see is not what is really there.

Measured sound is as limited as what we measure for..

We are as limited as the information we have access to. Just because it isn't measured doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Limited information is just that... Limited..

I'll never forget the first time I heard aluminum with copper clad and plastic vinyl (something) ICs, speaker cables and power cables. It was in a car and the guy paid 4k or something.. Man was it loud.

I change one speaker cable from one amp to copper and one RCA to copper on the left side, just like I always do..

Someone removed the BLANKET from the way they were, to the way they are.  HUGE cables ALL worthless.. The installer with his messed up hearing could hear a big change in just one side.. The cost of copper was actually LESS. I recommended SOOW 99.999 OFC 4/4 for power and 4/12 for speaker cables.. 50.00 max.. RCAs Good copper or silver clad weaves now.. less than 40.00 each.

Measure all you want... This guy was deaf..

Regards
@artemus_5 

What I find interesting in your post, if I am understanding you correctly, is that you acknowledge that things that measure the same would sound the same to a calibrated robot, but not to humans because we are not calibrated.  It seems that what you're saying is that things that measure the same don't necessarily sound the same because of external forces that apply to humans.  There's a big difference between thing sounding the same and humans not being able to hear them consistently.  Our inability to hear things the same doesn't means that the sound coming out of the speakers isn't the same.  Room acoustics are very dynamic and shifting the position of your ears will result in a different listening experience, so you'd have to be able to consistently differentiate between the expected differences in listening experiences from the unavoidable forces and what might be there from whatever physical change was made to the system.

I'm almost certain that I've heard Paul from PS Audio say that he's heard differences in speaker wires that were clear, but not in interconnects.  I find this statement quite curious as their website includes "Paul's Picks" that include increasingly expensive interconnects to match the price point of the gear in the package.  What criteria did he use to pick them?  The most likely scenario is that they are just using his name.

I think that it's entirely possible that things like cables and such can make a difference in a system of high enough quality, but I've not personally had the opportunity to be convinced.