Foster, sadly enough, those cables do make a difference and even more sadly enough of a difference best heard on speakers which easily might cost more than 15 times as much as those you speak of. But if you're clever and willing to learn from these pages and the experience of others here, you can do just as well with a much, much less deep pocket. It all depends how far you want to go with the reproduction of the "real thing" in your own home.
If you want to commute the 10 miles between your home and office, it makes no difference if you drive a little Fiat or a Ferrari, except for the prestige of impressing your neighbours of course. But if you want to drive a long stretch of a 1000 miles and enjoy it, you wouldn't want to take your "Uno".
I drive one and an ancient one at that,having almost 160000km on its four wheels, because I've put my dough into expensive cables and have given up driving long stretches. Life is made up of choices, some good, some bad and you're lucky if you can choose at all. Many can't.
Cheers,