Recently I had this eye opener experience. I have only two power outlets behind my wall of audio equipment. so I got $40.0 power strip from Radio shake so I can connect some components from outlet on side wall( not very high end!) I hooked up my cd player and preamp to the new strip ( my older one was/is the 2 for $10.00 Home depot power srtip). At first I like the sound a great deal: Sound stage opened up, depth improved, more details. Upon extended listening I discovered that the midrange magic was gone , there was lot of gringe and soundwas not just as lively. I cahnged back to my old $5.00 Home depot strip. Magic! Every thing came back to normal, meaning perfect sound. (to my ears). CABLES DO MAKE DIFFERENCE BUT NOT NECESSARILY FOR BETTER. YOU NEED TO FIND THE RIGHT CABLE -$50.00 TO $5000.0.