Cable differences -- power, interconnect, digital, and in what order?


A friend of mine has been a real connoisseur of interconnects and speaker cables; he hears very subtle differences between them, mixes and matches them with different results, and experiments with upgrades (and reselling!). 

One thing he's never done much with is power cords or power conditioners. 

This raised a question for me -- to what degree have people found differences in source and interconnect cables vs. power cables? Are they all important to an equal degree for you? Where is the greatest impact for you?

And if you do find power cables to be an important factor, where have you started making changes in your system? Wall to amp? With source? 

Thanks for any thoughts. 

128x128hilde45

Btw .. Companies such as Shunyata and maybe Audioquest are small enough that you can call and speak to some experts.  I found this type of input to be invaluable and quite interesting.

I tend to agree with that:

As in most high end audio, it depends.

But they are all important and there are many exceptions.

For me now everything including power, speaker cable, pre- power amp interconnect, phono interconnects (arm and stage cabling), digital player interconnect, tuner interconnect.

But still it takes patience till you understand what is the effect from every change, what you prefer and can afford.

 

@hilde45 I’m going to make an assumption you are an experienced listener, your components, speakers and room are on the level to resolve changes in components or cables.
So in my experience…

1. Interconnects

2. Speaker cables (super close second to ICs)

3. Power cables

4. Digital cables

5. Ethernet cables

As to the component to start with on a power cord upgrade? I’d say amplifier first, then power conditioner for your sources, then sources(turntable being very last and I would just use a good stock cord). 
 

@audphile1 Thanks. I'm surprised you put cables affecting the source down at 4, 5 rather than higher.