Cable Costs Relative to System

Just hooked up my new V2.2 Oracles...never have I experienced such a large transformation in sound quality in a system! The improvements are equal to or greater than most component changes.

Well, my system must have some weird "synergies" because the best sounding interconnects I have heard in my system are the $12.00 Dayton ICs from Parts Express. I tried three other brands of IC, ranging up to several hundred dollars each, and not only didn't I hear an improvement, the sound seemed to clearly degrade. I did hear one improvement, however, but that was when I moved my source closer to the preamp and went from a 6 foot to a three foot Dayton IC. I guess I'm either extremely lucky or extremely deaf. Anyone tried these? At such a low cost it couldn't hurt you guys to test out a pair...

System:
Zero One Mercury CD/HD player
Supratek Chenin Preamp
Flying Mole monoblock amps
Zu Julian Speaker Cable
Zu Druid Loudspeakers
Zu mini-method Subwoofer
Home made Belden Power cords

If the V2.2's are new, they will only get better as they burn in. Nice Cables. You should get the MIT IC's too.

A recent study showed that when a $40 wine is compared to a $5 wine, the most important determinant of the taste is the price tag. Switch the price tags and people identify the wine with the higher price as better tasting. ALSO, the study found that as the price tags were moved, the brain actually showed heightened activity associated with pleasure that correlated with the price tag, not the actual wine being sampled. The article was titled "Want to improve the taste of wine? Raise the price." Study done at Cal Tech and reported by AP on 4/15/08. Most people are too far-gone to actually reason things out so this is for the few who actually hear no difference: don't be shamed or bullied into creating a difference and paying more. The percentage to be spent on cables There are several well-known amp makers who recommend NOT switching power cords. The president of my amp company told me not to use a power conditioner or switch cords. For some companies, it’s right in the owner's manual. Components use DC, not AC. And the DC is fed from a power supply, which acts as a storage tank, not from the wall. That makes the power cord situation especially incredible, but if people can actually cause themselves to feel pleasure when a price is increased on wine then there is no rational argument that will matter. The subjects were not lying; they truly enjoyed the higher price more even though the wine had not changed! If you can are emotionally able, do a/b/x testing and save money. I always do and I have found $3,000 speakers that easily beat $14,000 units. Of course, this is to MY tastes- that is a different issue altogether.
There are excellent cable article all over the Internet. I recommend reading as many of these as possible and then doing blind testing. There may be a difference, but you won't need to know prices to hear it. Of course, quality may make a difference but the percentage of your expenses dedicated to cables should be determoined by what you hear and enjoy. Be as honest with yourself as possible, after all it's your money.

I have a $2500 integrated, a $4000 front end, and $9500 speakers. My power cords cost $1850 each, my interconnects $6495 and my speaker cables $12500! Without the cables, the system is ok....with the cables, it is close to some of the mega buck systems I've owned over the years. Maybe more musical in some respects, if being able to enjoy more recordings is the bar by which we measure. I've done the value cables and everything in between...some are worthless, others are sublime and worth every penny! MIT's approach deals with the real world problems inherent in all conventional cables and does so with an ear for musicality. Transparent does a fine job as well, but in a more obtrusive way...not compatible for many systems and in line filtration used instead of parallel technology.