How high end must your system be...

If you spend enough money on cables ($1000's) then you WILL hear a difference - it is quite simple - that is how it works. Doctors call this a placebo effect. You can look up the "expectancy effect" on wiki.

Another explanation is that some systems are faulty enough that simply unplugging a cable or disconnecting same can cause a change in response. The ground loop is a common example of this - many systems suffer from ground loops and disconnecting a cable and connecting another may have marked differences.

Finally, some cables are designed to act as filters and may have active components in a box that forms part of the cable - these will indeed make a significant difference to the sound - so would an EQ.

Gee, I can tell differences between wires I don't even want to tell in systems that cost as little as $1K or so. For example, I find some cheap cables sound much better or at least as good as some expensive ones I have already bought. And sometimes some expensive cables I have not bought yet (or actually could not buy) sound better to me in demos than the less expensive ones (I can buy). Furthermore, reviewers will often remark about how they have set such and such a budget piece up with wire that costs as much or more than the gear itself, and that it makes a noticeable difference. And its not just wire that can make a difference in these more modest systems, physical set up, room configuration and treatments and component isolation can all contribute to improving sound of lower to mid fi gear.

I say give different cables a try in your system if you want to with demo wires from The Cable Company and see for yourself if your "tin" ear resonates differently with a different piece of wire connecting your gear together. I like the idea of inviting the teenager from next door to see if they hear a difference, but you might also want to invite one of their parents too so folks don't start to wonder whats up with Mr. HiFi and the neighbor kids. LOL.

So, what is your system?

Despite this most recent critique of your equipment, I’d ask, “Do you feel it’s important for you to hear differences in various cabling?” OR “Do you feel you already can hear the desparities between different brands/models of cabling?”

Or is it you want to begin checking out other wires now but haven’t?

I’d recommend you simply borrow or buy some and see for yourself if you havn’t done so yet. If you have and aren’t able to discern much if any changes from one set of Ics to another, but feel all is well enough, let sleeping dogs lay.

There are folks around here who can and do spend tremendous amounts of money on equipment. Yay them. Some routinely chase something they’ll never ever find, and that’s satisfaction, for they seek something that can’t be provided…. Perfection…. Or they’re satisfaction lays on some future horizon… so the actual chase is as close as they’ll ever get to being happy with things indefinitely. And their treadmills continue to roll. Yay them too.

Then too there’s just plain audio snobbery at times or ego’s unrestrained in play now and then

Wether it’s true or not should not matter as much as if you feel otherwise..

I’d not let someone else’s ideas on how my system should sound affect me negatively. Each and everyone here who get’s involved to whatever extent they do, remains sole judge and jury on the product they’ll derive from the system they amass. INO it’s about pleasing yourself.

The answer though has to be a very relative one… a system is resolving enough when upstream or downstream component exchanges elicit marked results. Noticeable effects. Clearly. No guessing involved. No maybe’s. Straight ahead “Hey! That’s ???? than it was before”

What’s something like that gonna run? I’ve no clue. There’s a bunch of variables. A bunch. Like Tvad said initially, the noise floor is a big part of it. The degree to which your individual items are resolving and capable of rendering the signal accurately. Your room. Your own hearing! Just how revealing are the loudspeakers?

I’d concentrate on putting together something that I like the sound of for me…. And be less concerned of what some other’s might think about it.

I’m not being callous or telling how to do things I’d not do myself. It’s just that there’s a whole bunch of very good equipment available to us these days and for not tons of dough, it’s not hard to create a rig which does right by music. I’d bet too your’s is pretty good already and you enjoy it frequently.

Always let your own ears decide. It’s a simple matter to find out too… simply try some other cables now and then at your liesure. Enjoy.

Three variables that haven't been mentioned but I think are significant:

1)Recording quality -- the greater the realism of the recording, the easier it will be to perceive differences in cables, as well as differences between other components in the system.

2)Cable length -- the greater the length the more likely it is that differences will be heard.

3)Component output impedance -- for interconnect cables, higher output impedance of the component driving the cable will increase some cable effects.

Regards,
-- Al