Audiophiles should learn from people who created audio

Geoff- I do have a cheapy loaded on to an iPad. It works with a microphone, either the one built into the iPad-questionable- or an external mic, but it is measuring output of the entire system within the room. What I was thinking about was a lab grade test that, for example, measured the frequency/timing characteristics of wire as electrical impulses- the subject of this thread was that wire is wire. I assume something like that could be hooked up--but also wonder if it is has already been done.

Is this hobby about absolutes or about enjoying an art called music?  And who has the hubris to anoint themselves an absolute authority to dictate how such an "enjoyment" must be experienced?  Are we such slaves to physics, or metaphysics, that we can't abide deviation from our personal preferences?

FZ:  

Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.  

This horrible force (called music) is so dangerous to society at large that laws are being drawn up at this very moment to stop it forever.  Cruel and inhuman punishments are being carefully described in tiny paragraphs so they won't conflict with the Constitution.  Which, itself, is being modified in order to accommodate the FUTURE.

We need to distinguish between things that are a matter of taste (do you like candle light or halogen lights, or Bach or Metallica?), and things that are a matter of emperical reality (what is the colour temperature in degrees Kelvin of candle light or halogen light?). About matters of taste one can have an opinion, but not about the emperical facts. You cannot 'prefer' gravity, or a higher speed of sound. In that sense science is not democracy. Of course, establishing the facts may be tricky, but that is not the same as that they are a subject for opinion.

@willemj - exactly. However, I believe, in your quest to prove the irrelevance of ’fancy’ cables, you overstate what science knows and refuse to even entertain the notion that there may be aspects of human cognition relating to cables in amplified music systems that haven’t been quantified. Your position is absolute, and, in this instance, does not deserve to be. We aren’t arguing about the value of the acceleration due to gravity on Earth.
You are conflating all findings of science with established theories. And we all know that even those are also best guesses made within specific parameters based on an understanding of the data rooted within a particular time frame. As far as I know, there isn’t well funded research into the fields of acoustics and audio electronics at the level there was in the first half of the 1900s. So we’re still using those theories when the science that underlies what those theories are based on has changed. Sure they still work. But it doesn’t mean they describe everything and are complete. As a scientist, you should know that. Otherwise, what’s the point of further research? Since there are no big labs out there, exploring the subtleties of audio cables, there isn't likely to be a lot of data or grand research. It's just 'us' messing around out here with our wires.

Out of curiosity, have you tried any aftermarket cables? What do you connect your components to each other with?