Wow, $10k+ cables

You can go to Jay's Audio Lab (White Camaro) on YouTube and compare his recent exotic power-cord swaps to listen for differences.  Out of my league, though.

But I think OCC single crystal wire is the best wire on the market

I’m going to speculate here... This person has probably auditioned a small fraction of the cables out here, and furthermore most of us have auditioned a small fraction of them especially the really expensive ones. I would go along with "best I’ve tried" or "best I’ve found for the money" or something similar, but to declare them the "best on the market" is a bit of a stretch.. OK... a HUGE stretch. Kind of a worthless observation.

Which is no more worthless than the OP’s worthless observation. Substitute car, wine, watch, shoes, or any other expensive thing that caters to people who have a lot of money and you end up at the same place. Some people pay more for a bottle of wine and think nothing of it.. and that ends up in the toilet a few hours later. Pointing out the obvious fact that a lot of rich people spend (waste?) a lot of money on things they don’t need is the definition of a worthless observation.

Look through the archives and google around to find countless, pointless posts like this. So why do people start these threads over and over and over when you get the same responses over and over and over? Like this worthless response.

...perhaps a more worthless response is the enjoyment of 'listening to' y'all attempting to validate your choices of ic/pc cables assembled by virgins in sterile facilities using zircon tweezers at the dead of night during the dark of the moon....

Of course, the materials used would make NASA drool IF they could source such.  The next level, of course, will be supercooled ones using a refrigeration unit that will need special isolation risers to keep said cables from shattering the floor they're above, not to mention the isolation sleeves that will keep your equipment intact.... 

Oh, and don't forget the 440 VAC line needed to run the 'fridge.  You'll have to compete with the Covid vaccine suppliers for the 'fridge, too....

I can't wait to hear how 'special' all that sounds, so get on it, huh?

Margins vary but typically the actual materials + labor cost is 1/6 of retail with the retailer making the largest slice generally. Now I worked as a buyer one summer for a highly regarded brand but only got to peek behind one curtain. The cost of the super high-purity wire is rather significant and quite a bit of it sourced thru Mr. Cardas if I am not mistaken. The minimum quantities for purchase are a significant commitment financially and to reach quantity discounts even greater. Hand construction in the case of a Litz cable; a multi-layered helical topology that also involved anti-static, and anti-microphonic materials was considerably labor and skill intensive. Our terminations were also hand-made from solid high purity stock which too required considerable investment before anything was constructed. Cost of research and development is where most end users are unawares but particularly costly in the case of machine-made cable where specialized looms and tooling investments can be great. Quality control; a particular job category rapidly diminishing in America may also add costs. All in all to say you can get your monies worth in the end but boutique pricing as with many luxury products can also be highly inflated. Just a few things to think about. I like to observe Sturgeon's Law; 90% or everything is BS. You've got to do your due diligence and let the buyer beware. YMMV, Music is the best.

I have tried a number of very high end cables, including interconnects, power cords, and speaker cables.  I'm not rich by any means but if you purchase smart you can "rent" these for a while and get your money back when you sell shortly after......and they do make a difference.  On occasion they can be fabulous!  (ie High Fidelity UR and Stage III Kraken) But lets be real here....it's not like they take a Volkswagen and turn it into a Ferrari.  If you have your system fine tuned and get one of these cables you might be looking at the last 5-10% performance...and in high end audio that can be a pretty pleasing 5-10%.  That's fine if you have deep pockets but for most people that last bit just isn't worth the price of admission.  The goal for me is to get 95% of the performance of these uber cables at 30-50% of the cost....and lets be honest, nobody pays msrp for these cables.  Many $10K cables can be had at around 60-70% of msrp if you can find a "demo" cable from a dealer.  Then, if you can find a second hand cable you might be at 40% of the msrp.  For some reason these manufactures list their cable very high, thinking that everyone will call it the best because it's the most expensive.....then they deep discount so you feel good about the deal you got!!  It's their way of separating themselves from the hords.  But again, there are two ways to beat the system...….find a fabulous deal on an uber cable (it happens) or find a giant killer at an even better price (that happens too).  The only people paying anywhere near msrp are the people with deep pockets and no patience, and must have it NOW.