Why do digital cables sound different?

Mcel,

Most of the people here are pretty smart. Do you really think that they think that?

There are many other reasons as well why someone would choose to ignore those things.

But the bottom line is, if they do, then take everything said with an extra grain of salt or two. The reason why they do does no really matter much then.

I don't think it has anything to do with being smart or not. It the way our brains work, including mine. We all think we are the exception to the rule.

****"Why is it so darn difficult for some people to accept the simple fact that some listeners have better hearing ability than others; wether because of physiological differences, experience, or training? "

ITs not hard to accept that, but knowing who those people are for sure can be a challenge.****

Does it really matter who those people are? Seems to me that if we accept that simple reality, then one can go about the business of trying this cable (or whatever) or that cable to see if we can hear those differences; and if those differences constitute an IMPROVEMENT in our estimation. Bottom line: we accept that differences exist and if someone else wants to kid himself about a particular difference, who cares? The key is to keep an open mind about the possibilities. If we can't hear a difference we should just move on. We spend so much time disputing what someone else claims to hear. Why?

I agree with Frogman, If someone claims they can hear the difference and are willing to spend the money, Thats great, it's their money and ears. I for one, do hear differences. I have had to train myself to UNDERSTAND what i am listening for. For example I find that evaluating spdif cables is way different that evaluating IC's. Also, I have compared speaker cables where I heard minimal differences and returned them so sometimes you win sometimes you lose.

Some people, convinced that digital cables cannot make any difference, claim that people who can have to be under influence of placebo effect. They don't realize that their strong conviction makes them unable to hear the difference because of negative placebo effect.