randy-11, yes you can "measure" tone, but those measurements often fail to identify perceived differences in "tonality" at the listening end for pretty much every form of audio gear, including cables. This is why two amplifiers that have impeccable measurements, at least according to John Atkinson, can sound distinctly different to the ear of a listener.
And as for "speed" how do you measure that?
I would generalize to say that the experience of many people involved in hifi is that our stereo ear-brain systems are measuring, analyzing and integrating sonic information in ways that are very difficult for even sophisticated combinations of bench equipment to model effectively or completely.
We are not talking about engineering challenges like, will a bridge hold up a particular load or will a particular battery design accept a certain rate of charging before overheating. Those are simple case specific engineering challenges where nearly all the parameters are known.
Ignoring for the moment the very real influence of expectation and psychological condition of the individual listener, there are a tremendous number of physical variables that affect how any gear, including cables, will sound in a particular listening environment. These variables include at least the room, the quality of power to the room, the source material and format, the combination of gear used, the physical layout of the gear adjacent to each other and to the room, the type, lengths and physical layout of cabling connecting the gear, vibration management, the seating position and finally the best-day capacity of the listener's ear brain system to detect differences. That is a lot of variables to sort through, and probably why many audiophiles take subjective gear and cable reviews with a cup of salt.
Given all this, it is not surprising that some people hear no differences from different cable applications. But it is also not surprising that many people do experience real differences in their listening environment. My own experience and the experience of others that report big and noticable changes due to changing speaker and other cabling in their systems tells me this is likely a real phenomenon. And given the list of variables above would indicate that your mileage may vary considerably from others reported experience.
It also says to me that measurements of gear or wires on the test bench and in an idealized listening environment can be a starting place to identify "fatal flaws" in design, but might have very little relevance beyond that to how something will sound to your ear with your system in your room. You just have to try the bloody things out for yourself.
