Reasonable high end interconnects: without breaking the bank

IEALES
"There is very close to ZERO relationship between cost and performance. Cables must match the system, room and user preferences - assuming the user is has some credibility and skill."

To clarify, I believe that you saying to your ears, there is no significant relationship between cost and performance in cables. I don't think you mean that everyone on this post, except those with the cheapest cables, is not competent to evaluate their system properly but that you are. 

The people that hear a difference don't necessarily lack credibility and skill they just hear something that you do not.

@mcmanus 

they just hear something that you do not

You have it backwards.

Having been a Grammy nominated professional recording engineer, consultant to Monster Cable, Ibanez, principal engineer for several electronic firms, Chief of Analogue Design for AMS-Neve, I, and those who hired me, think my hearing is just fine. Sadly, not what it once was.

Over 5 decades, I have evaluated cables and if they differ electrically, they probably differ sonically. Whether they are a +/- depends on the gear they interface.

Unless one sits in the recording studio, swapping out cables, mics, preamps, compressors and EQ to get what's in the booth on tape and/or records live acoustic music and/or regularly attends live acoustic performances, then one has no frame of reference, just an opinion based on preference.

I recently auditioned some $12k vs $6k interconnect cables [same manuf] in a well setup dealer BW 800 D3 system. All McIntosh electronics. A really superb system. Swapping the $6k cable for the $12k totally destroyed the excellent presentation. Vocals became boxy, the image split, the hi-hat sand-papery and the harmonics would rip your ears off.

Some may prefer the $12k, but they didn't record it and thus haven't a clue of how it should sound. I did and it sucked!

What I would take from the demo is that performance is inversely proportional to $.

Cables are an interface between two devices and dynamically interact with those devices and cannot be evaluated other than in situ. Ultimately their effects are transduced by the loudspeaker. If cable colorations compliment the speaker flaws, great. If they don't, no amount of DoReMi will change that.

As point of reference, my speaker cables cost about 8x my speakers. I bought them because they are well designed and based on solid engineering principles. They got me closer than anything else I tried.

ieales

Some may prefer the $12k, but they didn’t record it and thus haven’t a clue of how it should sound. I did and it sucked!

What I would take from the demo is that performance is inversely proportional to $.

ieales (yes, same one)

As point of reference, my speaker cables cost about 8x my speakers.

Making a total shambles of whatever shred of logic there may have been in the first bit of advice.

What I would take from this is that advice quality is inversely proportional to bragging about professional experience.

@millercarbon
My speaker cables could have cost 1/8th my speakers. My point was that I am not averse to expensive product per se, if it is better.

Other than owning a HiFi, what are most posters creds? Take a scan through some of the virtual systems here. https://systems.audiogon.com/
No doubt, some are stunning, but then so is a taser. Some are so badly set up and in appallingly bad environments as to be hopeless. Anyone with an uncovered TV or equipment stack between their HiFi mains please 'fess up. And go away.

I ignored the topic "List your System Ingredients: Listed most to least expensive, by list price or price paid" because cost is irrelevant. It is possible to purchase the very best [read most expensive] into an unlistenable system.

It is possible the $12K cables were just not as good as the $6K cables.  It is also possible that the $12K cables exposed deeper issues with the Mac and B&W gear, or the original recording, or that the more expensive cables were just a poor match for that particular gear or weren’t broken in yet.  In any case, your story just reinforces that cables sound different, and that it is important to try different cables in your system to get the right match for you and the kind of music that you prefer listening to.

PS - Full disclosure, I often cover my TV monitor when listening, but not always.