I would recomend this test to anyone interested in actually hearing for themselves if there is any decernable difference in cable quality and decide for themselves if the difference is worth their hard earned money. Here is what I did, starting from a very sceptical viewpoint, I decided I wanted to prove this issue for myself once and for all. I started small with a USB cable connecting my computer to a Parasound P6 Pre amplifier. My purpose was converting all my favorite music to digital so I could stream it wherever I wanted. I decided I was willing to spend way more money than I would consider reasonable under normal circumstances to see if there was any noticeable improvement as I went up in quality and price. I settled on Audio Quest cables for my higher end cables and purchased a few Amazon selections at the lower end, but I was ABSOLUTELY NO WAY going to spend the rediculously high amounts that were available from Audio Quest's top tier, (at first Anyway). So I started with an Amazon Basics cable for about $12 and another higher end brand but not Audio Quest for about $25 to start my test. To my surprise, I could hear noticeable improvement from each of them above your standard freebe cable. So there was my first proof that there was something to this cable hype after all. Now things got interesting, there was a lot of choices between $25 and the top of the line 1.5 meter USB cable which if my memory serves peacked out at $850.00. To save money, I decided not to test every little step up the ladder, I went with their Pearl level next at $40 and then went up to $100 for a Cinnamon, and each step up in price yielded an ever better improvement in sound quality, better stereo seperation and resolution, started hearing details in the music that were not there with the lower quality cables.
Now I had a problem, where was I going to draw the line price wise, in order to really do this test correctly I now knew I had to go to at least the second best cable to test the law of diminishing returns, that meant I had to get the Coffee version and that was a whopping $480.00 for a 1.5 meter cable, but I had to prove to myself that there wasn't enough of an improvement with that cable so I could rest assured that I wasn't missing anything significant in sound quality and be content with something that struck a good balance between price and audio fidelity. So I bit the bullet and ordered a Coffee, and the worst thing possible happened, not only was there not a diminishing return cost to quality improvement, it was a huge improvement in sound quality. Where the Coffee excelled was in bringing in the lower frequencies up to the same levels as the higher fequencies, it was balanced big and bold, the bass was totaly missing from all the prior cables, I knew I was hooked I knew I could not settle for anything less than a Coffee level but, the good news was, I felt like this was good enough, it was perfect, as perfect as it needed to be anyway, I did not feel the need to take that last step to the pinnacle, the Diamond line. As with most things in life one step below the top of the line is usually where the best quality to value proposition can be found. I subsequently purchased numerous other Audio Quest cables after this test and even got a couple of free upgrades to the diamond line from the seller becuase they were out of stock (supposedly) of the Coffee's that I ordered. I have a suspicion they did the free upgrade to let my ears hear the difference of the Diamond line and get me to order more. I will say there was an improvement in the Diamond line over the Coffee but the Coffee at half the price delivers I would say 90 to 92% of what the Diamond has to offer so I believe that is where the law of diminishing return exists. But if money is no option there is a very noticeable difference between the two, more details more bass, more mids, and more highs but all very balanced and natural sounding. The closest thing to being there in the same room with the performers is the best way to describe it, the lower end cables start out with the performers being in another room and the sound just gets closer to the performers as you move up the line. I really hoped all the cable naysayer's were right, unfortunately for my bank account, I can say with certainty they are wrong, but do the test for yourself if you dare, but you have been warned, it will end up costing you if you do. My feeling after this test is you should probably spend about as much on cables of all kinds from power all the way to interconnects as your system components cost. You are wasting your money on equipment if your cables can't bring out what the components are able to deliver.