Are audiophiles still out of their minds?


I've been in this hobby for 30 years and owned many gears throughout the years, but never that many cables.  I know cables can make a difference in sound quality of your system, but never dramatic like changing speakers, amplifiers, or even more importantly room treatment. Yes, I've evaluated many vaunted cables at dealers and at home over the years, but never heard dramatic effect that I would plunk $5000 for a cable. The most I've ever spent was $2700 for pair of speaker cables, and I kinda regret it to this day.  So when I see cable manufacturers charging 5 figures for their latest and "greatest" speaker cables, PC, and ICs, I have to ask myself who buys this stuff. Why would you buy a $10k+ cable, when there are so many great speakers, amplifiers, DACs for that kind of money, or room treatment that would have greater effect on your systems sound?  May be I'm getting ornery with age, like the water boy says in Adam Sandler's movie.
dracule1

When I was dating my wife back circa late 80’s, her cassette player broke so I gave her my Aiwa AD6550 cassette player, which in fact was quite nice looking and had some bling. We were married shortly after and she always remembers the Aiwa, though I think she appreciated the gesture and its nice appearance more than the sound.


http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=aiwa+ad6550&view=detailv2&&id=FD48646470144E7AAED89DA5A691BE099394DDB8&selectedIndex=5&ccid=QZiDKa%2fB&simid=608020198781028788&thid=OIP.M41988329afc1f39c2268e1d3d0488a17o0&ajaxhist=0
If I had the money and after listening to them thought 10K speaker cables made a difference I would happily purchase them. I think we are to critical of individuals that have the resources to purchase ultra expensive cables. If someone has a system worth 250K, how much should they spend on cables? 
My wife just asked to hold my new Purist Audio power cord two nights ago.
Sure, I let her. The girth and heft amazed her.
Now get your mind out of the gutter!
Purist is bit SOFT so I guess about right.  Say hi to the wife for me.  It's BIG Joe!

FWIW I just picked up used a high end cable I lusted after for years for just under 1/4 the price, $375 for a $2K cable. And it sounds amazing! So I guess as with all things it depends on the product and the system synergy, some things are worth the money and some are not.