The truth about interconnects - can you handle it?

It seems to me that a corollary of the Audiophilic Truth (everything makes a difference) is "no two things sound the same" - upon which an industry thrives.

To compare the current state of electrical engineering with pre-Columbian or pre-Newtonian scientific knowledge is specious. Physicists and electrical engineers know how wires work. Their properties are not difficult to understand, and my guess is that their performance differences, if any, can be measured by current technology, from a satellite.

Do I think all interconnects sound the same? No. But many of them do sound the same and the differences I hear in the others are very small, less than what happens when you move your head (except in the case of some cables I have heard that are apparently designed to attenuate either the low end or the high end). Just out of curiosity, how do you people who hear all these big differences control for the position and attitude of your personal measuring apparatus (the ears mounted on your head)?

Nrchy, do you really think that we cannot explain why cables sound different ? Personally I think we can, which is why the cables that people consistently rank the best show similar physical characteristics, whether it be minimum capacitance, minimum inductance, or stable, known impendance ... depending which is the key design parameter for the use of that cable.

I agree with you that "scientists" who claim that all wire sounds the same based on their limited science are misled. On the other hand scientists who claim that cables do sound different, and that in virtually all cases there's a simple explanation why they sound different, are being totally honest, and are probably correct.

Well said, Sean, except that I know of no one with any scientific credentials whatsoever who claims at all wire sounds the same. That canard was actually invented by the "everything sounds different" crowd, because it's easier to refute something that clearly isn't true than to take on the arguments your opponents are really making.

I'm new to this hobby but in regards to the placebo effect, I can say that I only started my research after I heard differences from swapping cables on my system. The placebo effect only works when you have a preconceived benefit of a certain product (advil, etc.) I had none in regards to cable differences. I was running a generic Monster cable until a dealer lended me a pair of Siltech. The differences were more than obvious and that's how I ended up in this "miserable, bank-breaking, but somehow joyful" land of hi-fi.

oh, by the way, the artist tends to look for similarities, and the scientist look for differences. Which one are you?