Ieales, I love the sound of Quads. My first encounter with them was in the late 1980’s pared with an ARC SP-8 and Quicksilver amp. A Sota Star was generating the magical music emanating from those modified Quad ESLs. That was where my true hi end journey began. I had planars too but eventually moved on to Thiel speakers. To me they were fast like planars but with stronger bass. Agreed, time coherence is critical but I’m not convinced cables can alter that- at least they shouldn’t. I even had MIT cables with the LCR networks for a long time. I have since moved back to non-networked cables.
I’m saying that generalizations about cables are inaccurate. Cables have progressed over the decades as much as any other stereo component, ie. DACs, amps, preamps, etc. The disappointing part, as I have said is that it is not a regulated industry and finding true and legitimate technology can be a challenge. And I have also found, just as with any other stereo component- some bargains exist that make great sound for the money but mostly the good stuff tends to be more expensive. Expensive or cheap what we are all looking for is something genuine. It is not easy to make the OCC copper wire which sounds the best. And how many people have their own metallurgical lab to verify they are getting what they paid for. It comes down to how it sounds and for sure, we can get fooled into thinking something sounds better only later to discover it doesn’t. It’s happened to me.