Esoteric K-03/Plinius CD-101

Read my comments above.

Hardware is everything.

That was not really the question, but I understand not wanting to answer

All I can say without offending experience and knowledge of others, if OP put $13K Esoteric k-03 with his $17k Plinius combo and use $200 ICs, he will not hear full potential of the system. Yes he will enjoy the system sound more that with Plinius cd-101, but unless he will spend more than $200 on a cabling and outlets that will have synergy with his hardware, he will never hear his hardware to its best. And the difference will not be small. And the cost of the ICs does not have to be $2000.
But I agree that hardware and speakers come first and after that cables and other tweaks, assuming one spent thousands on a hardware.

How can one person decide ahead of time what another will hear or likes/dislikes what is heard based on price alone?

It is simply ludicrous to assume that listener "A" won't be thrilled with a $200 pair of wires as opposed to a $2000 pair of cables. You might but he may not.

Expensive is not necessarily better with wires; this is the flaw in your rationale. I've been doing this far too long to believe otherwise. Cable selection is system and listener dependent. There is only a tiny positive correlation between price and performance.

Put the kool aid down and listen to a couple thousand systems and then come back and talk.

Thank you

Audiofail, you are right in a way.... Cheap interconnects (or generally cables) might be better and usually are better in certain systems,mediocre systems. Excellent cables (they usually cost more) are to transparent , to revealing , will show all imperfections of such systems and they would be "unforgiving" in inferior systems. Cheap cables will mask defects, they can be used as tone controllers in such systems.
Very good cables, neutral, transparent, detailed etc usually go with equipment of high calibre. In mediocre systems they will show how bad the system is.
Conclusion: cable application depends on the system.
And excellent cables will always be excellent but of course can't be used in any system.
Btw, you smell the same as Badwisdom, haha...