the physical parameters that affect audio cable performance are the type/thickness
of the core (whether stranded for flexibility or solid core, it is after all like a pipe,
so if the core is too thin it can be harder for electricity to flow (so to speak)
then the thickness of the insulation between the core and the shield wire
(this actually is how you create a capacitor, but since an audio cable is
not wound like a guitar pickup, the capacitance is negligible)
they type of shield also makes a difference... the famous BELDEN cable
made for Musical use and our standard for decades, with it's crisscrossed interlaced
incredibly strong yet flexible while providing near 99% shielding !
modern shield tech in wiring now includes a thin layer of plastic embedded with
carbon and such which gives it enough "wirelike" properties to be able to act as
a shield and drain to ground (the actual copper shield wire still coiled around it)
and finally the connection to the Jack, or the Jack itself... consider the standard
1/4 " jack, it has a rounded shaft and tip, they typically touch a flat contact
point meaning only a tiny part of the metal is actually making contact
and can turn if you tug on the cable while performing
(this is why XLR was preferred by many of us onstage... the contact is a sleeve sort
of flexible surround that makes firm contact on multiple points) and so
we rewired all Amps to use XLR for speaker cabling (this was before Speakon)
also some Jacks have terrible internal contact point and path engineering...
and this is why we relied upon Switchcraft products for many many decades
ciao
Ventura