Of course they make a difference, cables make a difference, weather, humidity, everything matters. You can spend enormous amounts of money building the perfect listening room with all the perfect gear and accessories then you walk in the room and screw up the sound just by being there. Many companies and people make quite a bit of money selling dreams, they only have to convince would be buyers that their products are so much better than any others, fancy words, pretty pictures and unsubstantiated claims is all it takes to convince someone who wants to waste money. All kinds of ocean front property has been sold in Arizona as well as several bridges, I'm off to buy the Brooklyn to go along with my Golden Gate.