why do people feel the need to buy expensive cable


I have tried expensive cables and one's moderately priced. I would say there were some differences but I can't actually say the expensive cables were better. IMHO I believe a lot of people buy expensive cables because they don't actual trust their ears and are afraid of making a mistake. They figure the expensive cables are better for the fact they cost more. If you have a difference of opinion or share the same thoughts, I would like to hear about it.
taters
Lak you are so right.  I look at these type of threads and it goes in circles.  Look if you have a decent system give it decent cables. Use them to tweak or enhance and enjoy.  If you don’t believe then stick with your chicken wire 
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Just wanted to add my 2 pence to this discussion. I must admit I have always been on the fence with this argument, believing, as most other do, that after a certain price point most cables are equal and that we just buy the look after said certain pric point. I attended the Bristol Audio show in the UK this year (have been a few years now) and purposely sat in on a speaker/interconnect demo being run by the Chord company, just to confirm my thoughts on my cables.

i wouldn’t  say I was shocked but I would say I was surprised. There was most certainly ‘differences’ in how the cables sounded, with some providing more depth and detail in the music. (Things you couldn’t hear with one cable, but could hear in another). 

Id say the demo lasted over 1 hr, the format was piece of music played for say 15 seconds with one cable. Then switched out with an ‘upgraded’ cable, then same piece played again. Totally open setup, all in view, with connectors showing (rear facing) . Very simple setup and no smoke or mirrors at play.

The main thing I picked up on was that most of the differencesi personaly heard we’re minor. I wouldn’t even  they sound better or worse, just different, some I like some I didn’t. I think that is more the point, they just sounded different, to some they may say they sounded better, others worse.

The only major thing I took away from it all, and the only thing that in my opinion DID improve the sound reproduction/detail etc for the better was the use of shielded cables. That for me was the only thing I would now make sure my cables had as this and only this made a big enough difference to the sound that I could 1) actually hear it and 2) say it was a definite improvement.

they also demo’d new silver banana plugs and £3k meter cables all of which I couldn’t say made anything sound better or worse, just ‘different’,  but hey, one mans different is another mans better. 
melbguy1 - The usual reason audiophiles dismiss more expensive cables in a-b comparisons is because to be blunt, their systems aren’t capable of clearly revealing the differences.

IMO, the quoted statement is to generic in that there are different types of cables. Interconnects being one, speaker wire another. In the case of speaker wire, I have reason to believe honest (to themselves) audiophiles dismiss more expensive cables in a-b comparisons because, to be blunt, there is no audible difference that can reliably be detected, and therefore money that would otherwise have been spent can be saved.
This has nothing to do with Bose. Bose sounds like crap! There you make an assumption that I and others can’t get past the marketing crap. Most of us can! Look there are some of us that have never been exposed to truly high end systems that pull the last amount of depth, detail, soundstage and musicality out of music being played in a system. It’s called SYSTEM FOR A REASON! Each of our systems have been put together and tweaked to the last minute details. We have different rooms, acoustic enviorments, power cables, speakers, amps, pre amps, sources, interconnects, speaker cables, music, quality of recording of music we listen to etc, etc. it all plays a part in your ending sound. You will never hear my system in your enviorment! So I tell people if you can hear the difference and you like it go with it. IF IT SOUNDS GOOD THEN BUY IT! THIS IS NOT A LOW BAR. ITS THE ONLY BAR! AUDIO IS TO BE HEARD BY YOUR EAR. I DONT GIVE A CRAP ABOUT MARKETING OR HOW IT MEASURES ON SOME DAMN GRAPH. DOES IT SOUND  GOOD TO YOU? THEN THE REST DOESNT MATTER. Now I have said my piece. If that Bose demo tricked you in the past I hope you can get over it. If you like chicken wire then keep it but don’t tell me I’m crazy cause I have a system that doesn’t like Chicken! Lol. Enjoy your electrodynamic spectrometer that Marvin the Martian used to shoot at bugs bunny! I will keep enjoying my modestly priced cables playing the music through my resolving system that I can actually hear!