I used to take solace in the opinions that cables make no difference, because it saved me money. Then I listened to a demo at CanJam where Dana Cables had some Grado headphones plugged into a Headtrip amp that had 2 outlets. Side by side identical headphones, identical source. Stock cables on one headphone, Dana cables on the other.You could have one set of cans in one hand and one set in the other, easily swaping A/B . The difference was dramatic. Debate over as far as I’m concerned. The fellow next to me listened and thought they must have been pulling some kind of trick! Haha. I have swapped a variety of speaker, power and IC cables through my various setups. Don’t feel the need to apologize for saying that generally the differences are somewhere between detectable and dramatic. I have a friend who "can’t hear differences" but he heard the difference with the Dana demo. Most of the reason he can’t hear differences is that he has set up his systems so poorly that, to my ears it sounds pretty bad either way. He is too lazy to read his manuals and figure out how to get things sounding good. As long as sound comes out he thinks his job is done. When people say it is just confirmation bias based on you just wasted a pile of $$$ so you have to believe it was worth it, I just shake my head. That being said, I aim for the sweet spot in the price/ performance curve. Which for me is just a step or two above entry level for the most part. As far as power conditioners, I was leery because "they kill dynamics" etc. "They give and they also take away." I think that was true with the PS Audio PPP and the Shunyata Hydras I tried. In general they gave more than they took and the systems sounded better with than without (just using on sources, not amps) Yet the differences were not dramatic. The Equitech is a different story. The difference is dramatic and I believe it gives plenty and takes away virtually nothing but grunge.There are other conditioners that I am willing to believe make a huge difference including Shunyata Denali and Audioquest Niagara. Pretty sure that almost anyone who actually tried them would easily hear the difference.