Why do digital cables sound different?

Spluta: I was primarily refering to audio and low frequency RF gear. When you start hitting high frequency RF, you can have it. Things can get WAY "squirelly" REAL fast. I can understand that you have to take what you can get in situations like that, as there just aren't a lot of alternatives out there.

Foreverhifi: Out of curiosity, what was Dunlavy running for electronics at their factory ? I would assume that he had his Z-6 speaker cables, but do you know what was used to connect all of the gear ?

This brings up another topic. If the gear / speakers being used within a manufacturer's reference system sounds like "hell" and / or is set up poorly, how is it that they can really tell if something sounds "better" or if they have actually made an improvement to a product during listening tests ??? This is not to pick on John Dunlavy in specific, as i surely respect him for his knowledge and experience. Sean
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Sean,

Can i still have your tax guys number? just kidding.
I agree...audio and high speed are two different worlds
and I do get them confused sometimes...

Forever,

I think you brought up some very good points. The more
i think about it the more im thinking perfect length
of wires might not be ideal for audio. Hmmm.. So what do
you say guys lets sell different lenght MATCHED cables
and get rich?

Best regards

forever, are you saying the reason the systems you site as sounding lousy was because of the attitudes of the owners, or that they chose bad cables? I douby in either case they were using lamp cord

steve.

I am not well read on auditory theory, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that auditory memory is good for a few seconds at most. Also that non-blind tests are statistically worthless since visual clues, foreknowledge and so forth demonstrably invalidate the test. Also, that expectation ("I am now changing the cable") leads to perceived differences in sound (even when the cable is not actually changed). Or do we dismiss this overwhleming scientific evidence under the illogical rubric that music is so very complex and objective undestanding so very limited that subjective experience outweighs it, and hence cables must make a difference?

"Yes" is the short answer. I don't necessarily agree, but that seems to be the point of view of this community.