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Cables that measure the same but (seem?) to sound different

I have been having an extended dialogue with a certain objectivist who continues to insist to me that if two wires measure the same, in a stable acoustic environment, they must sound the same.

In response, I have told him that while I am not an engineer or in audio, I have heard differences in wires while keeping the acoustic environment static. I have told him that Robert Harley, podcasters, YouTuber's such as Tarun, Duncan Hunter and Darren Myers, Hans Beekhuyzen, Paul McGowan have all testified to extensive listening experiments where differences were palpable. My interlocutor has said that either it is the placebo effect, they're shilling for gear or clicks, or they're just deluded.

I've also pointed out that to understand listening experience, we need more than a few measurement; we also need to understand the physiology and psychological of perceptual experience, as well as the interpretation involved. Until those elements are well understood, we cannot even know what, exactly, to measure for. I've also pointed out that for this many people to be shills or delusionaries is a remote chance at best.

QUESTION: Who would you name as among the most learned people in audio, psychoacoustics, engineering, and psychology who argue for the real differences made by interconnects, etc.?
hilde45

Showing 1 response by cleeds

cleeds
6,112 posts
 
unreceivedogma
In pharmaceutical clinical trials, the placebo effect is A Thing, people get better because they think they are not in the control group ...
Not exactly. Placebos won’t cure cancer.

Those that prattle most consistently about placebo affect insist they have science on their side. Here's a gem from @mijostyn, who claims he's done the research:
It is safe to assume the placebo effect as 50%. If I give 100 people with headaches a sugar pill 50 will tell you it made them better. This is why we always run controls. 
He runs controls! You'd think he'd be anxious to share his research  - after all, he claims to be a medical doctor. But for some reason, the "proof" always goes "poof." Why is that?

Of course, he's probably not a doctor, either.

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