Interesting discussion.
I think cables absolutely have a strong effect on a system.
As a general statement, those who have moved up the ladder over time into reference gear generally swear by spending a fair amount of proper cables. My advice to anyone is try a handful of quality cables at multiple price points before settling into a decision. Spending $80k on your system components and connecting them with $1k in cables is false economy and you will never hear the systems true ability. For clarity, this does not mean one must then spend $30k on cabling to do justice either.
I think cables absolutely have a strong effect on a system.
As a general statement, those who have moved up the ladder over time into reference gear generally swear by spending a fair amount of proper cables. My advice to anyone is try a handful of quality cables at multiple price points before settling into a decision. Spending $80k on your system components and connecting them with $1k in cables is false economy and you will never hear the systems true ability. For clarity, this does not mean one must then spend $30k on cabling to do justice either.