What do audiophiles want from a cable?

terry9, if you come here and take the cable I use as a preamp jumper on my integrated amp while I'm at work and you switch it with an inferior cable, I will most certainly notice... guaranteed.  Absolutely positively.  I tried it recently and my audio system was much less enjoyable.  This was very obvious to other people that listen to music here on a regular basis.  From them I got the "what did you do?"  There was most certainly a decrease in the level of performance.  Similar performance loss is apparent when I position the cable that I enjoy so much on the output of my DAC in between the preamp/amp.  The magic is lost, it just can't do it.

Sorry, wax, don't quite understand a few things. First, exactly what components are you connecting? Digital source --> DAC --> Integrated amp --> amp ??? Or something else?

Second, how does the sound improve? What are the characteristics of the performance loss?

Third, what characterizes an "inferior cable"?

I can hypothesize, but until I know more I can't really respond.

Social sense of belonging. 

What...?

In terms of speaker cables, It’s said over and over: the best cable is one that doesn’t alter the signal. So then logically, that cable should be EXACTLY the same cable that goes to your amplifier’s binding posts, (newsflash: it's not a $4,000 exotic, NASA engineered cable). If I hear one more comment about how a $4,000 pair of boutique speaker cables are needed to, and this one’s my favorite, "get out of the way of the music", my head will explode.

I agree with jmcgrogan2, all cables modify the sound, it’s just a matter of do they do it to your liking?

I agree jmcgrogan2 in that I go for what sounds good to me. It's all part of what I call voicing my system, an exercise that has included not only the cabling but also the speaker crossover components, the tubes used in the preamp & amp, the power cords, and the power conditioning system. In my experience the synergy of the cabling is system dependent. This past year I changed amps and felt a need to adjust the voice of the system. I got in three new interconnects to audition. In my system there was one that was the clear winner (to me as well as a two friends who were over).  We took the show on the road over to my friends' systems and a different cable each time was unanimously considered to be the best system match (as always the caveat of personal taste notwithstanding). 

My answer to the original question about what I (sic) want from the cabling is that I want it to be an effective part of a musical system that allows me to connect emotionally with the music, and the attributes that permit that vary by individual.  Several system incarnations ago I had a rig that I described as letting me connect intellectually with the music in that I could talk about which sonic attributes it was doing well, but it still wasn't adding up to an emotionally engaging experience, and that is my ultimate, albeit personal, criteria.