$20 XLR cables that sound good

Good point Shadorne. I am sure that I have not found (and cannot afford) the best cables, but the good part is that every cable upgrade (in lieu of upgrading componentry) brings a solid improvement in the sound of my system and a smile to my face. That is what the hi-end is all about for me...

Everything's riding through IC's. I'd begin by selecting well-built, well-insulated "middle-end" IC's from a reputable audio company. Your ears will reveal if it's a musical system match, really capturing the system's synergy.

You may also order two or three different IC types and return your least favorite(s). I'd first try connecting the L/R main channels through different IC's and play your best-known test sources. The best system match may jump right out or be less dramatic but definately better.

I practice basic connections care that also definately helps. That includes cleaning all interconnects, keeping connections snug, using short cable lengths, pugging and unplugging carefully, and running audio cables separated from any power cords.

Audio arguments/discussions are always interesting. Somewhere in Stereophile, this month, I'll have to look for the exact article. But the comment in the article was that an Audiophile type person owns speaker Mark II, and is very happy with it, noticing no deficiencies. The the Manufacturer comes out with the Mark III correcting a list of supposed deficiencies in Mark II. The Mark II owner now suddenly and forever hears these issues until he makes a change. So much is subjective AND suggestive, that I am not sure where some comments I read even come from. But it is a hobby to enjoy and to each his own.

How do you know for sure that $100 or $1000 or $10,000 is enough to spend on IC's.

Is this not true for every link in the system? The progress that many people here continue to make is to add another level of refinement to their system with each change. Do we only upgrade sources, electronics and the speakers? ... and stick with budget cables forever?

And what does repeatability and robustness have to do with this? Once you get off the upgrade train, you have repeatability. But for the rest of us, who says we need to stop with budget cables?

If you are off the upgrade train because you are content with the sound of your system, that is fine. But every time you imply that cable sonic-differences are the result of poorly designed products, you do a disservice to the designers of those products and to the readers here who seek advice to improve their system.

As for the basic circuit designs of line and phono stages and amps, no new rocket science has really come along here for quite some time. But the implementations of these designs and the associated parts, active, passive, transformers, etc., allow many of us to hear detail in our recordings that we did not hear even 5 years ago. And this allows the music to get us a little closer to the real thing.

Shadorne, you put too much emphasis on what is on paper and not the end result, that which many of us can readily hear, of such high performance systems.

I've had my share of cables in my system in all different price ranges. I do subscribe to the theory that there are differences in cables. However, I have come to the conclusion that while there are some excellent sounding high end (and high priced) cables, the cost/benefit ratio was out of whack. Spending 5 times the price to achieve a 10% improvement got old with me. So I scaled back on my cables and spent more on my components, One of the best things I did with the extra money was upgrade my speakers.

To top it off, it's not like the cables I'm using today are slouches. They are all very good IMO (and yes they all sound a bit different in my system) and I can live very happily with them:

Magnan Type Vi
Grover Huffman SC
Chimera Labs
Mogami Gold
Oyaide PA-02