@jsautter "What I do know is that I have heard major differences in cables and in some cases have heard cables that sell for a few thousand dollars that soundly trounced cables from some of the above that cost over 10K."
What you have given us is a testimony. And based on the fact that few if any of us know anything actually verifiable about you there is no reason for us to trust your testimony. Now, it would be foolish of me to argue with you about what you heard and didn't hear. That's like arguing with someone about their favorite color. But it is not "foolish", nor does it make one a "tourist"( your words) to doubt testimony we read on the internet. It would be foolish to do otherwise.
And the thing is, other folks with equally good internet credentials as you have tried various cables of various prices and do not hear a difference.
So when I'm confronted with a claim for a phenomenon that may not have good, reproducible objective support and in some cases defies common sense, then in terms of a rational approach it makes more sense to accept the testimony of those who have tested and not experienced the phenomenon than those who have tested it and did experience it. It is a fine line because we're dealing with super weak evidence. We could be dead wrong but it is not "foolish" to approach it that way.
And if there is no point at which someone will say that they can no longer suspend rational belief.....like when confronted with $22,000 interconnects then it is also not foolish to suspect that they may have approached $1000 interconnects with the same suspension of rationality. Again, we might be wrong, but not foolish.
