How Big of a Difference?

I think you have to allow for both sides having some correctness in their position. In other words, cables can act as mild tone controls - some may sound a little different than others -- but the difference between cables, in terms of the cost relationship between standard and the higher end cables, is nowhere near the differences you can get with different primary gear - speakers, source, amps.

Also, in general, cables may sound slightly different, but that does not mean expensive ones sound better than cheap ones. This isn’t gourmet food or wine where rarity is created by the quality of the delicacies. This is manufacturers creating culture around their products to create a premium perception.

Also, just because someone has thousands of posts on Audiogon and speaks with complete certainty doesn’t mean they are correct. It just means they post a lot and that’s who they are. There are lots of people in this world that speak with complete certainly about total BS. That is not to say that cables have to be total BS, but just don’t let the tone of one post convince you of anything other than as it relates to the personality of the poster.

EDIT: to clarify, the above refers to analog cables. On the digital side, people tend to misapply analog logic to their digital cables...and hallucinate major differences that from an engineering perspective cannot be there. [And yes, fine to apply the paragraph above to my opinions as well!]

@jji666 - thoughtful post covering several key topics in just a few paragraphs +1

+1 for Morrow, that's where I started my cable journey due to the gaurantee, but I bet others (Blue jean, wireworld, anticables) could also deliver.

For me, power cables and speaker cables make the most discernable difference, that and using XLRs vs RCAs.  I was shocked at the impact of power cables esp for amp and pre.

Confirmation bias story - when I decided to up my speaker cable game, I posted on the Thiel user's post for advice and happily took Eric Squire's advice and went after Acoustic Zen Hologram, used market for reasons described above.  First offer I made was to a guy using these cables in a Magico/Aesthetix system with Audio Note DAC, way way out of my league.  He accepted my offer, but then reneged bc he couldn't handle the SQ with different cables!  I found another seller and happily hooked up my new cables to my modest system and was happy with the improvement, discernable for sure but not certain I'd be able to tell a difference 100/100 times in a blind comparison test, so have always wondered how much of this is confirmation bias.  But more than anything this experience added to my amazement that power cables seemed to have more of an impact.  But then I remembered I went from stock power cords to $300 used Cardas, and the speaker cable change was from a lower tier Audioquest to the AZs.  Don't get me wrong, I'm sticking with the AZs, but I think this illustrates the fact that you gotta try for yourself and see, and good luck filtering out the CB!

Re digital cables, not sure if I've been able to confidently tell a difference.

All that being said, the weak link in my system might be the long run of AQ Cascade xlrs from pre to amp, I need a good 15-18' and haven't come to terms with spending the same amount of $$$$ on cable as a component.  Might have to start a discussion with that question.

Once you get tired of listening to cables, get some tube gear and start swapping out tubes.  To me these are great ways to exercise and improve your listening skills.

IF you have money to burn through, the best cables I have heard were Goetz and Western Electric's or Dueland's imitations which may sound even better than the originals. 50 years ago Western Electric cables delivered clear voices from coast to coast. You could, assuming that you knew the person at the other end, easily discern who you were speaking to through thousands of miles of cable.. Goetz cables need to be zobeled to ensure that your amp doesn’t go into oscillation at frequencies above your ability to hear it and burn up. You can't be sure that aresistor or capacitor lead won't break, and you won't likely even know that your amp is in trouble until it's too late. They are now selling counterfeit Western Union cable, so I have gone to Dueland for all my new cables. Some will warn you that the tin will create a diode effect. I don't care if it does, cables present their own load to the speaker, hence Goetz cable's capacitance burns up some amps. Regardless of what they claim I've tried home made concoctions, and expensive cables and most just made things worse. The Dueland cables just work, and I can't explain the theory because getting the proper resistance, capacitance, and inductance, crunching those numbers ignores the amp and speakers which are also part of the circuit. As the cables appear to perform regardless of the circuit I just don't care about the why, I am just thrilled to have cables that work. Perhaps I should get the Dueland cables for the speakers, but my old Western Electric cables are the real thing, and I am content with them as speaker cables and Dueland for all my ICs.

12 gauge solid occ copper for speaker cables +1