I used to think pricey interconnects were snake oil...

the snake oil part is needing to spend thousands or even 10’s of thousands to get a good quality cable.

At the price point you trialed you might want to check out Zavfino Arcadia. IMO a far bigger bang for the buck than AQ

next up from Arcadia is Fusion and that is less than $400

Unless you do a blind test sighted bias is in play. 

The good news is you can buy exceptional cables and power cords from Ali- Express, There is a couple chinese cables threads in the forums 

though it seems Jason, that the Op possibly had a bias to not prefer the upgrade cables...making his reaction even more powerful...

While more expensive is not always better, and there are some lower-cost competitive cables that have surfaced over the past decade, I would not buy anything costly without having worked with a retailer or local dealer to demo it first.

After my local dealers inventories shrunk, thankfully working withe TheCableCo, TMRAudio, and MusicDirect, I was able to demo and return some and buy others on my last go-around of upgraded cables, in a reasonable and effective way.  

One thing I don't do any more with friends voluntarily,  is to bring over some of my better cables for them to try on their systems.  This can trigger instant confusion :)