Rafa, I was a non believer in cables and fuses until I heard it for myself...
Thanks for your perspective on the matter. I am always willing to be proved wrong, but given that I haven't got the money to pay for a $600 USB cable, two $2000 balanced cables and $2000 to connect the speakers, plus power cables and fueses for other $3000, perhaps it plays to my interests that I don't believe they will make a difference! LOL! Call it wishful thinking!
But now seriously, I would gladly do some tests to actually see if there is or not a placebo effect. The few tests I was able to do, proved them to be so: the changing of lower and upper bindIng posts on the speakers, and the 'beaks' to absorb vibration and 'completely change the sound color'.
They both proved to be wild goose chases. So I'm 0 for two on the sound voodoo realm.
I don't want to sound harsh, I just want physics or common sense to actually support the claims made by designers / sellers of equipment. I actually applaud approaches like yours where you test and validate instead of just spending (or wasting?) money. You know which worked best for you, and that is really great.
As for me, I have not a $40 'cheap' cable on my system, I have $1 one. Literally paid $1 for it where they sold the RPi3 cases. It's sending 1s and 0s. So if some one tells me about jitter, sure, I believe that. But the DAC is able to decode those 1 and 0s, so what information is kept on the $600 cable? Which 1s represent the clear highs or the deep bass on the music that is so much better preserved on other cables?
I'd agree that a better cable could prevent pops, or clicks, or hum passed as current via the 5v line. But if music is 'in sync' and sounding, really are there 'better' 1 and 0 streams of the same string of values? I can't wrap my mind around that.
Same goes for anything behind the analog processing, like power cables and fuses. Analog cables, on the other hand, could be prone to noise, or better fit to carry specific wave lengths which would affect sound. That I could agree on. I'm still not paying $2000 for that difference.
Maybe I'm just thick. I just want to know the science behind things and every time someone tries to sell me air, I get suspicious.
Thanks again for sharing your research,
Rafa.