why do people feel the need to buy expensive cable

I'm afraid it's not that easy. I have heard systems that did not reveal differences in cables. Who knows why? It's not a done deal that cable X will outperform cable Y even with all our convictions. C'est la vie! ;-)

Oh boy, the two clowns just showed up, lol!, neither of you have anything worth adding to this thread that is revalant!, especially about any of my post, really? ,lol!

Who uses lol anymore...jitterbug users?

Geoffkait - I'm afraid it's not that easy. I have heard systems that did not reveal differences in cables. Who knows why?

r u referring to your own system ?

I have had two manufacturers of amps/pre/phono's, both EE's (Electronic Engineers) sit in my listening chair and listen to music.
They both heard differences when I changed out various cables. This included gear running balanced and se signals. Interestingly , when I first reached out to them about their products, they told me cables don't matter. One of them didn't even offer power cables with his gear, because "my customers usually have their own power cables". My opinion is these manufacturers don't play in this space and quite frankly, I think that admitting to customers that cables can make a difference, might imply some kind of weakness in the gear. This totally ignores the fact that The Room and power going into the room are both Alpha over the amp/pre's/ phono's......and everything else in there too.

Yup.lol old people like me. I still use my CD player too.lol. Anyway things can be really system dependent. Some cables are a system match for your gear. Recording, room, acoustics, equipment, type of music, recording quality all play a part. I think when you have heard a really high end system you understand how good it can get. So folks never get to hear the real high need systems. I have. Is it worth what people pay. It depends on you. You put the best cables you can afford on it and roll with it.