Never Spend More On Cables Than Your Equipment Cost$$$$$$$$$$

Food for thought. Just don't have to cash in the kids 529 plan.

I downsized my amps and speakers a long time ago and kept my favorite cables.

My cables now cost more than my CD/TT/amps/speakers combined, but if I add in the rack, specialty shelving and power conditioners I'm good to go.

DeKay

I guess that rules out the Professional Elite ICs from High Fidelity Cables for those of us who have spent less than $100,000 on our speakers and upstream components.  

Somewhat agree I would not go out of my way or intentionally seek a cable costing as much or more than a component. Most components typically have a power cable and a IC or digital cable connecting, and if a preamp there may be several IC’s that equal or surpass the cost. In my system only my DAC has associated cables exceeding its cost, but because I pulled my preamp out of the chain and feeding my DAC directly to my amp(s) and I’m very impressed and not sure I’ll roll my preamp back in until I want to spin vinyl. I think with a lower level of cables I would not be as impressed, but the more expensive cables are letting my DAC play to its full capability. This is my DAC and current cables.

RME ADI 2fs DAC w/Teddy Pardo LPS w/SR Orange. Nordost Frey 2 2M Balance IC, Nordost Silver Shadow spdif and WyWires Silver Juice II Digital PC. So I’m guessing the cables here are 2X the price but it sounds great.

Like so many of the audio "truths" we throw around, the one that says cables should only cost 10% of your system is overly simplistic, IMO. Yes - when you are buying a new system and you have a limited budget, I totally agree that you should spend 90% on the components. No question. But after you have stuff you really like and want to bring out it’s full potential, I think it’s a good idea to at least try some relatively expensive cables after you have saved up some additional funds. Although I’ve been involved in high-end audio since the Dahlquist/Ampzilla days, I never experimented with more expensive cables until recently and I was very surprised by the amount of improvement that can be gained with better cables. For example, I am currently using a $1500 Purist Neptune IC on a 5K amp/dac combo and I was amazed at the improvement over a very decent Black Cat IC. As I said, if I were building the system from scratch, I would not have done it that way, but I really liked the DAC and amp and was curious to see what a good cable could do. And it did a lot. Just my opinion, but at least it's based on first-hand experience, not something I read.

PS - I just did some quick math and, despite the admittedly expensive IC, I’m only into about 20% of my system for cables. Probably because I don’t have room for heavy power cords. So I don’t feel so bad now. Boy, this stuff adds up fast, don’t it?