Well, guys, just think of all the money you saved by not being stupid and wasting cash on silly crap like expensive cables. As for me, I don't waste my money on such stuff, either. But I CAN hear the differences these cables make. And it is not always good, IMHO. Most of the time these 'supercables' just create a huge bloomy midrange, plumped up bass and rolled off treble, and pseudo-audiophiles go, "Oooooohhhh!" and "Ahhhhhhhhh!". It happens all too frequently in this hobby. Reviewers are no different, sadly.
The answer is to have a valid reference point in memory from which to compare recorded sound. The more vivid and deeply ingrained this aural knowledge is (which takes time and multiple exposures), the better one will be at discerning the true character and 'accuracy' of any given cable design.
So, do you KNOW what a live instrument sounds like in YOUR listening environment? (I do.) Have you been to any of the halls and venues where the music you listen to was recorded? (I have.) If not, how can you possibly make an informed comparison? If you don't have a valid reference point, your judgments will likely be misguided.
I have friends on the LA Philharmonic, so for years I got to be privileged and experience live music up close and personal from some of the world's greatest classical artists. I sat in the front row of the orchestra section of the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion (seats BB15/16) for over a decade, and likewise sat perfectly positioned for soloists as well (seats BB 20/21). So I believe I have a good background to make such assessments. (Although admittedly I stopped going once Disney Hall came on line; tickets are now just WAY too pricey, sadly, just like audio gear!) I have been privileged to hear Deutsche Grammophon engineers record C.M. Giulini and Kristian Zimmerman performing the Chopin Piano Concerto Nr.1, and I have been less than ten feet from Murray Perahia while he performed the pieces you can hear in his great "Aldeburgh Recital" on Sony Classics.
If your systems are not capable of resolving the entire structure of the piano pedals lightly creaking as Perahia leans into a passage from Beethoven or Liszt, or the sounds of his fingernails ever-so-lightly clicking on the ivories, or the sound of his clothing rustling with each movement, then you don't have anything to worry about, cable-wise. If you can't hear the lucky concert-going attendees softly whispering to each other at Perahia's feet as he performs, or the shifting noises of his bench as he moves around during the performance, then you're not missing a thing by not having those expensive wires and cables that supposedly reveal such things.
But at a concert, if you sit close enough, you WILL hear those very sounds (if your ear's sensitivity allow for it, of course.) And so, if a system can reproduce those subtleties, but only with a megabuck set of ICs, you shouldn't try to dissuade people from bringing such realistic and palpable musical wonders into their own homes. Maybe only a few people can actually appreciate such subtleties, as you contend. But let them see/hear for themselves if the cable's performance matches it's price point. But don't try to brow-beat people into agreeing with your viewpoint. If you feel you've been stupid and bought cables on reputation rather than true objective performance, then sell your expensive cables and go with the cheapos that float your boat. Good for you! But please don't go around saying everybody else is equally stupid for not selling their expensive cables and emulating your own actions. They might just hear a little differently than you do. Not necessarily better, just diffferent.
For those of us who CAN hear those differences, please don't tell us (either directly, or through intimation) that we don't know what we are talking about, or that we are imagining these differences. It is you who appears as ignorant (i.e., unaware) of these low level sonic phenomena, either deliberately (which is simply ridiculous), or as a result of physical limitations of your auditory system's processing capabilities. Do you deny that Shaquille O'Neil can dunk a B-Ball without effort, just because you likely can't even touch the rim jumping as high as you possibly can? Just because you can't do something doesn't mean everyone else can't either. Please don't make blanket assertions about other people's abilities or inabilities to perceive relative cable performance, just because of your own admitted or apparent limitations in those regards. It smacks of a 'sour grapes' attitude that was as unwanted in Aesop's time as it is today. 'Goners deserve better treatment than that.
