King Cobras vs Straightwire Chorus II, unintentional comparison

I go back and forth on just how much difference exists between the various brands and levels of Interconnects,  HDMI cables, etc.  I've probably spent more than I should have through the years on cables.  My system consists of primarily AQ and Straightwire cables.  Yesterday my pair of AQ King Cobras (RCA connections) crapped out developing some type of short for the second time this year.  See below paragraph for more information.  They simply stopped working.  They were connecting my Marantz UD5007 to my Integra surround sound processer.   I went to my box of surplus cables and grabbed an older pair of 1 meter Straightwire Chorus II ICs (level 2) as back up. Still work perfectly.  Well OMG, they sound just as open, clear, sharp and detailed as the King Cobras.  I've got them on now and honestly I cannot tell the difference.  I paid $200.00 for the Cobras about 4 years ago and only about $65.00 for the pair of Chorus IIs.   What the ???   Discussion or have we beat this topic to death here on Audiogon? 

About my pair of King Cobras (RCA), I noticed this problem earlier this year and returned them to AQ under an RMA.  Received them back bench tested and thoroughly checked out.  No problems found.  They worked for a while until last evening.  I'm done with them and will probably just chuck them out in the trash.   Unbelievable.