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The Science of Cables

It seems to me that there is too little scientific, objective evidence for why cables sound the way they do. When I see discussions on cables, physical attributes are discussed; things like shielding, gauge, material, geometry, etc. and rarely are things like resistance, impedance, inductance, capacitance, etc. Why is this? Why aren’t cables discussed in terms of physical measurements very often?

Seems to me like that would increase the customer base. I know several “objectivist” that won’t accept any of your claims unless you have measurements and blind tests. If there were measurements that correlated to what you hear, I think more people would be interested in cables. 

I know cables are often system dependent but there are still many generalizations that can be made.
128x128mkgus
stevecham
3,298 posts
 
@teo_audio: "It’s good to remember that numbers exist no where in the real world, that numbers are an abstract thing in a human mind. They can never be real. It’s a tool...and it is in charge of exactly nothing. Math can be one of those incredibly dangerous ultimate appeals to authority, if one is not careful."

More flat earth. More hollywood moon landings. The very fact that you are reading and writing in this thread is because numbers are real. Go pound sand.
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
82 posts
 
Guess it would be real interesting to find out who, on average, has the better sounding rigs. The folks who ultimately rely on the LCR or those that rely on the EAR.

Good question! I would have to say without a doubt the system that relied on ears (assuming someone spent the time required to fine tune the system to their liking.) We cannot at the present moment explain all the measurements and chemical reactions that occur to make one system more enjoyable than the other. I say chemical reactions because you can’t remove your brain from the picture - it’s part of the system. 
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
82 posts
 
To continue on that thought - you can use measurements to build your system and get a pretty good room response, but you can’t fine tune with measurements. Why? Because the goal isn’t definable (at least at this time). What would your goal be with measurements? A ruler flat response curve? It’s been done, and usually it sounds bad. The goal is to fine tune the system in order to produce the most pleasing sound to the listener and ideally one that extracts maximum emotion and realism. Good luck putting those concepts in a formula. 
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
82 posts
 
>>less than the width of an atom.<<

What?! If that’s true then ears are a form of nanotechnology. They truly are better than the microphones used to take measurements. That’s crazy!
chrissain
425 posts
 
LCR does have an audible influence, but are not the only factors in overall sound quality. A cable no matter how expensive cant improve the sound, it can however do less harm and let more music through. All cables color the sound, the better ones just do it the least. 
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