Who says cables don't make a difference?


Funny, after all these years, people still say things like "you wasted all that money on cables". 
There are still those who believe cables don't make a difference.
I once did marketing for a cable line I consider to be about the best-Stealth Audio Cables. 
One CES, I walked the rooms with the designer/owner, Serguei Timachev. He carried a pair of his then new Indra interconnects. Going from room to room he asked the room runners to replace their source to preamp IC with the Indra. There was not one that was not completely flabbergasted and said that the Indras blew away what they were using. That was the skyrocketing of Indra and Stealth. The Indra became one of the best reviewed cables ever.
Serguei now makes the Sakra-an IC that blows away the Indra!
I don't understand why some still do not value cables as much as I.
mglik
@kennycThank you for coming back to the subject of the OP.
And, especially, for your clear enumeration of the factors that must be considered in cable design. Certainly each different type of component always has distinct and important factors that must be considered. Cable design is, perhaps, different but as complex.
And to accomplish designing a cable that is truly transparent is difficult, time consuming and expensive. And to briefly go back to the critical mass of end users and reviewers, so many intelligent and aware people can not be discounted or ignored.
kennyc,

You somehow forgot to list those who have tried, can afford, and then concluded it is not worth it at all.
The cable budget would have to be proportional to the overall system cost. A $20K system with Belden is like buying a Ferrari and cheap out on the tires.  You don't want the cable to be the bottle-neck on the performance just as tires limiting the car cornering speed.