Between good cables, no I heard no difference. I am not positive I heard a difference with the bad cables. Knowing they are bad etc. I had my Grado's then which were more revealing than my Yamahas. If it measures bad and measures good is cheap, why not?
There is actually no such thing as a true blind test because you know it is a test. Your brain will make up answers. So, we get larger groups trying to take guess averages out, double blind and all that. Guess what? When there is no difference, we get answers that are positive they heard a difference, and when a difference, sometimes large, some claim there is none. Do enough trials to where statics start to matter and fatigue sets in and your brain makes up even more stories. Some studies may be as close as 60% and claim that is proof. If you know stats, you know far that is off! That is the problem with subjective tests. They are only valid for you and may or may not reflect reality. Your perception is all that matters though. Being human.
When we make a change, we usually jump in and do "critical listening" and hear details we had not before. Were they really revealed, or were you just listening to music before and not noticed them? I know I have fallen for this. The more your invested in the change, the more likely you can switch back and those details get blocked. Sometimes we put something and because it first seems different, maybe yes, maybe no, but a week later we claim it is "burned in" . More likely, we have just reprogramed our expectations and there was no change. Speakers, yea I buy that. We are a funny species.
