Which is the most important part of a stereo system?

Terry9, and anyone else who thinks cables are least important:

you couldn’t be more wrong, however, it is true that much of what is being sold as hi-end cables can often hurt the sound. Believe me I know, but when cables are designed by people who actually understand the inherent obstacles to producing quality cables the music benefits. If/when there are diminishing returns it is at the very top of a cable line (when they typically cost as much as a car)

My preference is WireWorld, who offers several series to fit your budget. Also, about a year ago, they introduced Series 8. I have seen a good amount of used Series 7 as some people feel compelled to upgrade


hth

OP
2 that I am familiar with (either their integrates or as separates include; Parasound (A23 + P5) and Elac (I own the Audio Alchemy DDP-1 + PS 5 : Parasound include dac/phono, but Elac includes Streaming and their amp can be turned into mono with a flip of a switch, should you want more power with their matching amp. The Elac is true balanced!


Underwood HiFi sells the Elac among it’s many products, all with very good discounts
hth

Years ago, WireWorld invented a Cable Comparator. It accepts several interconnects. It has a shift knob to quickly switch between them