You’re right, even though I’m trying to convince myself that I can be neutral, I will admit I’m secretly hoping that it sounds better, since I don’t like wasting money. But I do have a rule that I wouldn’t tell someone else there is a difference unless there is a big difference that I can replicate multiple times. If the difference is small and perhaps imaginary, I’ll just tell myself that it’s better.
Along those lines, I was debating about whether to post about USB cables in the Cable Recommendations thread or here, tossed a coin and posted it there.
I was curious about whether all USB cables sound the same, found one cable that sounds different to the one I had, initially wasn’t sure if I liked the differences, eventually decided I liked the cable. I don’t understand the science enough to know if the new cable is actually better from an engineering or electronics perspective, but I can definitively say that it sounds different. So not a gimmick, as far as I’m concerned.