Best interconnects & speaker cable? I don't get it


I don't know if there is a question here but I'm posting this to see if there is something I'm missing or overlooking in this observation. To the point, I've read many posts arguing the benefits of one or more conductors over others and I almost understand some discussions regarding, at least, comparisons of wire gauge for speakers. Maybe it relates to my less than well developed ability to discern subtlities in sound quality but I really can't hear much, if any, difference between interconnects or speaker cables.

As an example, I was recently experimenting with an amplifier selector (Niles DPS-1) which can accommodate a max of 14AWG speaker wire. In doing so I had to disconnect my existing cables which are "high end" 12 gauge per leg bi-wires. In making this comment I realize that just because my old wires are big and expensive does not necessarily mean they are the best match for my system or even any good. But...even though I think I am able to hear some small difference between them, to say that I think one is better than the other would be a stretch.

It seems to me that there are factors that would logically lend to the issue of quality, the primary of which would be conductor resistance and/or impedance. However, for transmission of line level signals, I can't see impedance as a significant factor.

All that being said, I believe that some listeners with acutely honed abilities can actually hear these differences and, in a way, I am somewhat glad that I don't; It makes wire choices much easier and way less expensive.

My current system consists of Shanling S-100 CD player, CALSigma 2 DAC, Rogue Audio Sphinx and Martin Logan Odyssey speakers with various interconnect and speaker wires.
128x128broadstone
03-09-14: Tubegroover
On a final note cabling should not be a tone control but often I suppose thats what most of them are.

I think that is one of the biggest misnomers in audio, is that cables should not be tone controls. All cables are tone controls, period. If you think that your cable is not a tone control, compare it to how your system sounds with NO cables. LOL!
Obviously, there will be NO sound with NO cables. All cables have some tonality, just because they mesh well with your system and musical tastes, does not make them "neutral", or not tone controls. It just means that you have found the tone controls which fit your gear and tastes the best.
Sure, you could always fool yourself into thinking that cables are not tone controls by tailoring the sound of your equipment which suits your cables best, and I know some who do this.....but who are you trying to fool?

All gear and cables have a tonal signature. Most listeners try to balance their system to their own personal tastes. Some like revealing cables with warm gear, some like warm cables with revealing gear, there are many different paths to audio nirvana. However, there is no cable that sounds like no cable at all. There is no way to even compare the sound of a cable to no cable at all. So to say that cables shouldn't be tone controls is just silly audiophile fluff. As always, YMMV.
I suppose I didn't make myself clear enough Jmcgrogan. I didn't say the cables I am currently using are not themselves tone controls, after all every audio component in some matter offers degrees of digression from the recording and the event itself, I'm not that naive. I should have made clear just less so than others IME. Things are only as good as to what one's experience and taste is as you have made quite clear. I totally agree with your comments.
It isn't a secret Schubert but I didn't want to make it into a "my cable is better than yours" thread and stay on point to the op's observation. I just like them a lot and they CLEARLY do what other cables have not in my system, offer a clearer more natural path to the music with less obvious coloration. Actually the cables have been around awhile but there have been very few comments concerning them in this forum, Omega Micro line. The Mapleshade cables (Parent company) offer similar characteristics but miss many of the elements that the OMs offer. They are also fragile and fussy so maybe not a good option for some.
Jmcgrogan2 - FINALLY! Glad to see someone else commenting on what I've been
wondering for some time. To your several good points...why the heck is it wrong
to use cables as 'tone controls'? They act as tone controls whether or not
consciously chosen for that purpose. Are effects of frequency balance &
extension, tone & timbre ignored in discussions of 'synergy' between cables and
the rest of a system? If synergy is preferred and antagonistic effects to be
avoided, then the contribution of cables to tone has to be considered when
choosing them. If such is the case, what's wrong with choosing cables to
improve a system's tonal balance?