Digital Cable Choice; how critical is it?

Barrelchief, digital cable sonic difference = placebo effect = no measurable difference on recorded waveforms downstream of your dac. But they do look cool!

Oh forgot something I thought might be useful. Signal recording and analysis tools are getting reasonable in cost, very powerful and somewhat user friendly, certainly user friendly enough for a lot of serious audiophiles. For around $3000 you can get a complete data recording system (sans computer which you already have)and you can progress from wondering & parts replacing to knowing and making informed decisions. I recently bought a Dataq instruments model 730 for work, (I'm sure there are others that are equivalent, I have no tie to the vendor, just wanted to give an example). Three grand is a big chunck of change, but for folks who are heavy into the hobby I think it can save a whole lot of money and frustration in the long run and allow a better final end result. Data is good!

Nsgarch - fair question, but my better angel is telling me to just give up, take my toys and go home. If anybody is interested and has a fairly fast internet connection an insight into what is possible to take audiophile concerns (ac line effect, vibration tweaks, digital & power cables, why does my system sound different than it used to, etc.) more toward science is at http://www.dataq.com/applicat/presentation/I_A_hardware-overview.html
Happy listening!

Nsgarch - Just work to date for a recording device. The one o these days plan is to get the meaningful measurables on my audio system recorded to hard disc for reference and troubleshooting, and then too start digging into things like does the dc buss on my pre amp wiggle when the fridge kicks on & does this create a measurable difference to a constant frequency wave output measured between amp & speakers.