There's obviously a part of all audiophiles who loves a debate like this!
I agree with what I think Larry5729 is getting at and would also love to participate in something along those lines. The only way to credibly attempt to resolve this endless question or debate, if that is indeed possible, would be to conduct double blind studies or testing under strict scientifically controlled conditions. Even then, there will always be those who wouldn't accept the science or the results. Just look at the flat-earthers among us now! Conducting trials like this would be trickier than it sounds. No pun intended!
For example... (and please bear in mind this is just an example, for fun, from someone without a scientific background; someone who loves, loves, loves music, like all of you - so, don't go getting your BVD's & panties all bent up into a twist) what if a large number of audiophiles and people who just love music but don't have fancy audiophile sound systems at home were selected for an experiment(s) or trial(s) like this? What if one segregated these judges or evaluators into 3 large groups who've all experienced X number of live music performances of various music genres involving various musical instruments over a specified time period? What if all these judges or critical listeners (the more, the better) underwent audiological examinations and were segregated into... say... one group involving those with optimum human hearing capacity, one with identified and defined average good hearing capacity and one with identified or defined level(s) of normal presbycusis? I think this would be a good start. However, there would be a host of other considerations to control for, as well! The selected hardware (i.e. sound system(s)) would be an interesting one. Would one choose... say... what would be considered an average entry level hi-fi system and, then, another that is a significant step above that and, then, another that would be considered an ultimate hi-fi system? I'm thinking in threes, I guess, just to keep things relatively simple but, hopefully, you get the point. One could have a bevy of electrical engineers test & measure the selected cables after the subjective results.
I can hear the chatter already! Still, this would be interesting and, like Larry5729, I would love to participate in an experiment like this. To my knowledge, I don't think anything on the scale I'm imagining has ever been done. If it has, please share! If a cable manufacturer could prove, beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt, that their cables sounded better than their competitors', wouldn't they have done that by now? I think the incentive, rather, is to keep this debate alive and well. What audiophile who purchased $30,000 cables would want to hear that a pair of $5,000 cables would sound just as good in their system or, perish the thought, even better? It's the mystique!
