shielded vs unshielded pros and cons?


I read about this concerning ICs. Can someone help explain the  the differences to me and why it's important (or not),
WITHOUT BEING CONDESCENDING OR HIJACKING THE QUESTION? That would help me to understand it better.
rsjm80
@rsjm80, 
I use a brand of cables called Ocellia.  The owner offers both versions for his interconnect cables.  He believes that unshielded is the better sounding alternative.  However if your audio system is in an environment where RFI and/or EMI is an issue then he recommends shielded cables. 

I've used his unshielded Silver Reference for years with no problems. So scenario dependent. 
Charles 
Many years ago, I tried the shielded and unshielded version of otherwise identical Kimber cable between my tonearm and phono stage.  At this very noise sensitive location, noise intruded with the unshielded cable, but the sound was better—more lively and open sounding.  If you can get away with it, unshielded might be better sounding.
"noise intruded with the unshielded cable, but the sound was better—more lively and open sounding".

That is what the maker of my cables essentially said the sonic difference would be. I’ve always been able to get by without needing shielded cables. But certainly they could be a poor choice if noise /electrical sourced nterference is present. Go unshielded if you do not have  this intrusive noise issue.
Charles
Thank you each and everyone one that has responded! You distilled the explaintons so that I was easily able to understand the difference now.Thank you this helps. :)
I literally just logged in to ask this exact question. I’ve been apprehensively looking at the Decware Silver Reference and DH Labs Silver Pulse interconnects, both of which are unshielded and claim to employ noise rejecting cable geometry. Seems like I recall reading that shielding is less critical for short runs? I dunno…