Cables that measure the same but (seem?) to sound different

I won’t say there can’t be an audible difference, who knows there still are paramaters in play we didn’t measure (correctly).

There also is this thing though that our ears fool us. Or actually it’s not our ears, they merely are the sensors, the transducers ... the real hearing takes place in our brain. And our brain fools us, greatly. For one, it fills in the gaps, our hearing is trained on how songs and music usually ought to sound, just like we can read a sentence where all vowels are left out prfectly well (w cn rd a sntnc whr ll th vwls r lft t prfctl wll). Our ’hearing’ is also greatly influenced by visuals, and by expectations. Google for the McGurk effect.

So ... yes ... when you just shelled out $4000 for new speaker cables, that look thick and fancy and that have nice gold plated connectors on them (I never use connectors, the less interconnects the better), you WILL here a difference ... just because you just told your brain there SHOULD be a difference.

And of course, if the first listening was a bit disappointing, you now hear a difference after some hours of ’running in’. Because the experts told you they sound better after ’running in’, your brain now expects a difference. Who knows what exactly happens with the molecules and atoms during running in? The interesting notice is statistically there’s a 50% chance they sound worse ... but no, they always sound better!

And of course they again sound better after you placed your cables on the $400 floor spacers to avoid cable vibrations. Ever thought of using $2 kitchen sponges for that?

It all becomes much more difficult with a blind A/B test.

The sound that gets to the brain and is 'heard' is different to that entering the ears.  Because there is a brain in between.  The brain is like an AD converter.  It adds and subtracts artifacts.  Indeed it is much less compliant than an AD converter since it adds emotion (aka placebo effect).  Psycho issues beset those who report differences.

They don't like it but only consistent differences found in double blind ABX tests carry any validity at all.  All other results are nulled by non sound-related brain activity.

Yes @rudyb it does 'all become more difficult in a blind test'.
Many report that emotional and nervous issues reduce their discriminatory ability.  This is just a cover-up because they do not 'hear' the differences in a correctly implemented scientific test.  There should be minimum delay between presentations of A B and X.

I repeat: reports in circumstances where I listen to my system, spend 5 or 10 minutes changing wires, and then listen again 15 minutes later and report differences CARRY NO VALIDITY AT ALL.  

@avitacom vitacom

"Measurements, e.g., resistance, inductance, capacitance, are, these days, easily made , recorded and compared but are gross and crude compared to the kinds of phenomena which may be discerned by the human ear and brain such as, say, timbre. The simple measurements aren’t going to help us predict how a device (cable) will contribute to SQ."

Well said.

FWIW:
British Audiophile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7Opv0Zx6Mc&t=929s&ab_channel=ABritishAudiophile
Audio Excellence: https://youtu.be/SPBlWgNqK_g?t=620

 
@dynamiclinearity arity

you don't know if some factor is missing from your measurements until you discover all the measurements. We usually discover new measurements when our observations are no longer predictable by our current measurements.

Exactly. The history of science is (when successful) and expanding discovery of what exists. Science presents hypotheses -- this theory is the best explanation (so far) of the phenomena in question (so far) for the purposes defined (so far).

@sdl4  -- Thank you -- I will!

"Measurements, e.g., resistance, inductance, capacitance, are, these days, easily made , recorded and compared but are gross and crude compared to the kinds of phenomena which may be discerned by the human ear and brain such as, say, timbre. The simple measurements aren’t going to help us predict how a device (cable) will contribute to SQ."

Timbre is the fundamental plus the harmonics and can be measured. I’m not sure why it seems to take away enjoyment from listening to music if we can also understand, explain and measure what we hear. Take a single electric guitar note with a fundamental 96.5 hz and the harmonics 96.5 x 2 x3 x4 x5 etc.. These can be measured and shown on a FR plot, different instrument different measurements different timbre. If the resistance, inductance and capacitance of the wire differs by enough to alter the FR then it will affect the timbre.

djones51, your point is well taken.  I was searching for a musical quality which could be discerned by listeners but not possibly measured by existing guages.  “Warmth,” or “brightness,” would have been a better choice than timber.  I believe that most of us would agree that state-of-the art instrumentation is insufficient to describe, wholly, the glorious, human experience of music.