@beagleman
Imagine a primitive man thousands of years ago sitting under an apple tree and apples start falling down in front of him. He tells his friends that they all fall straight down. No, they say, that's anecdotal, prove it. Anyway, the leaves fall slower and usually sideways. He's not going to wait thousands of years for Newton to explain gravity and wind resistance. He's certainly not going to invent differential calculus as a precursor for explaining the gravitational force. More likely, he'll eat the apples and enjoy them, perhaps put a net under the tree to catch them so they don't bruise or split.
The history of mankind is full of anecdotal experience waiting for an explanation. That's how science works. If you ignore anecdotal experience, progress explaining the physical world will come to an end. Most people pre-Newton would simply have avoided walking under apple trees should apples land on their head, but there would have been a few natural philosophers asking the more fundamental question : why they fell from the tree at all.
I have no skin in the game. My last component system was balanced and I used Mogami 2534 analogue XLR cables at about £15 each. But if people say they hear a difference, good for them, let them enjoy it, I'm sure one day it will be explained one way or another.
I'm no scientist. Galen appears to describe various reactive effects between cables and components. He may be correct that scientifically they do have an impact, but whether and how they may be audible is another matter.