Alot of what you are saying is true Inna! I myself have on occassion spent thousands to get that 5%!! In this case I sold my ic's and put $10 000 in my pocket, so I guess I have decided the 5% is not worth 10 grand to me! Right now I am considering spending part of that $10k and getting a Tripoint Troy, which will give me way more than 5%.
Who knows, when I run out of places to reasonably upgrade my system again, I may reach for that 5% and end up with the Stealth in my system........but right now I'm getting more by investing that in other areas, such as a preamp or Troy! As for my friend with the Tara Zero.......he had $30K in a very long run of ic's.......now that's alot of jingle for 5%. I find the Mogami gold gives me a very, you are there, sound, much like the Atmasphere preamp did. (On that point, Ralph Karsden of Atma recommends using Mogami with his gear) Alot of other cables were giving me their flavour.....which isn't all bad of course, and in some cases much prefered. Everyone has that decision to make.