Why Do Cables Matter?

So you guys are trying to tell me that in a blind listening test I would not be able to tell if my system had cables connected or not?  Preposterous.  Now could I tell in a blind test if it was the power cord that was missing vs. speaker cables?  Probably not.

My point is after 40 years of arguing about this topic don’t you think the cable business would have died out by now if they provided no sonic benefit?

I can hear the difference in the direction of my network cable into the music server.  It is not subtle either.  I really wish they would put arrows on those cables.

I’ll add as I’d missed in my first post here a critical element - speaker positioning and distance to listening chair. This is something that I continue to be amazed with how a slight change in speaker placement can break it or make it. This of course comes together with room acoustics right after your components and before cables. 

An objectivist is just a subjectivist who thinks he/she has the better argument.

@nonoise The funny thing is that it’s subjectivity itself which clings to the mental belief system that subjective discrimination has no worth and no validity. The radical materialist and the diehard skeptic are thus hoisted by their own petard.

what's the point of the 

Post removed Jun 01, 2023

line?

If someone was curious to hear more clearly what various cables do to the sound, it seems they could be tried with long cable runs, like maybe 100 feet. Surely that would exaggerate whatever change the cable is making compared to another cable of the same length. They might both sound bad at that length, but in different ways.

This brings up a potentially complex issue, where a particular cable might sound better at certain lengths, while another sounds better at other lengths, even in the same system.

Have you optimized all your cable lengths? I haven’t. I tend to assume shorter is better, but I haven't tested that notion. It just makes sense to me.