Nordost Cable Listed in Order of Importance

1-phono cables (from cartridge to phono pre) are most significant, as they deal with a tiny signal (.2mv - .5mv). not debatable.

2-after that the interconnect from your preamp to your amp is critical because that synergy is paramount to the whole signal path.

3-all the rest are situational and not consistent. every A/C power grid is different, interconnect from source to pre can be significant, speaker cables can be critical depending on the amps and speaker synergy. you cannot generalize. no absolutes.

I started with the Power Cables and thought they made the most difference.

Especially on the power conditioner (had one then) and now the amps (direct to dedicated outlets).  Everything helped as I finished interconnects and speaker cables. I have Kubala Sosna Elation, and I tried many.

But this was interesting:

My friend wanted to try his DAC in my system and is not a huge cable believer.  So I inserted his DAC with average interconnects.  Not so great.  Then I used my Elation interconnects to  try his DAC and BIG improvement.  It seems subtracting a nice set of interconnects made more of an impression than adding them!

So a good test if you need to reassure yourself; put an old interconnect or PC into your full loom and see what you miss!  Kinda like turning off your subwoofers!

Ken

@mikelavigne   +1. This is my experience as well. 

Nordost's list is taken from Linn, which from the very beginning said the source is the most important element, i;e turntable, arm, cartridge, phono amp etc.

I am surprised so many believe power cables are the most important.  I have said this before but the cable you can pay $25,000 for and more is just the last 6 feet of 10 miles or more of cabling that comes from the power station to your wall socket.  What about the other 9 miles and 5,274 feet?   Power conditioners are different because they interface actively with the power.

@clearthinker 

You are wrong in both counts. Nordost thinks power cables are the most important cables. The list they provided has nothing to do with components. Second, think of power cables as filters. It doesn’t matter what is before them, least of all how many miles of it, as long as they can clean it before transmitting it to the component. If you have a spurious signal coming through your electrical system, you can filter it with a 2 inch filter. Length has nothing to do with it.  At any rate, this post is not about whether cables make a difference or not. Thanks for your response anyway.