Comment by ssl-3

Sure.

It's just like ethernet networks in this way: We can examine a cable and see if it works by plugging in some regular gear with it, and look at the success/error rate. Lots of people do this. It's an empirical way to see if a cable is good enough today, under present conditions, as a binary pass/fail state.

Or: We can examine a cable using specialized gear to characterize its performance, and then: We measure not just if the cable is good enough for today, but how close it is to the edge of acceptance it is. This allows a fantastic cable that is exceptionally excellent to be discerned from the ones that may be merely good-enough-under-present-conditions edge-cases.

From there, it may in fact be sane to suggest that the better-performing cable is likely to have better longevity as it inevitably degrades from human factors like...using the thing.