The Science of Cables


It seems to me that there is too little scientific, objective evidence for why cables sound the way they do. When I see discussions on cables, physical attributes are discussed; things like shielding, gauge, material, geometry, etc. and rarely are things like resistance, impedance, inductance, capacitance, etc. Why is this? Why aren’t cables discussed in terms of physical measurements very often?

Seems to me like that would increase the customer base. I know several “objectivist” that won’t accept any of your claims unless you have measurements and blind tests. If there were measurements that correlated to what you hear, I think more people would be interested in cables. 

I know cables are often system dependent but there are still many generalizations that can be made.
128x128mkgus
I agree with michaelgreenaudio with regard to "experience." I have several times over the years encountered people in work environments and in other situations in which someone professes "twenty five years experience in (fill in the blank") and then it later becomes apparent that more correctly they have one year of experience twenty five times.
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@ chrissain

Great post....yeah cables are in some weird way the audiophile's version of Keat's idea of negative capability ( or at least my most probably wrong understanding of same ).
The reason that the formulas are lacking and the ear/brain has a marked advantage is the ability of the ear/brain to hear into noise floors/ceiling which as I mentioned earlier is a serious limitation for measurement systems.

Is this related to the fact that when you are in a large, noisy crowd you can “tune in” to your conversation and clearly hear the person you’re talking to? There is some sort of highly advanced filtration going on in the brain in that scenario. A microphone cannot do that. It’s just a vibrating membrane - it can’t selectively hear what it wants. 
Earlier rotarius stated that cable manufacturers used the same bulk cable supplied by the same sources. Even if this were true, and it is for many cable manufacturers but certainly not all, he is making the assumption that the conductor is all that truly matters. This is an erroneous assumption. The solution to this entire debate is very simple as it applies to the individual. Of course if you truly "know" as does rotarius and a few others, no need to experiment. But if you allow for the possibility, order a few different types of cables with return guarantees and experiment.