Rok2id,
Your position on 'wire' leads to the comment about amps and CDPs because all electronic components are effectively 'wire' - i.e. conductors or components which conduct signal. In a CDP, there is a laser reading a distance off a spinning disc. The signal propagated is either a 1 or a 0 for every portion of the signal. That signal is then turned into an analog electrical signal in the DAC and then is output. There should be no difference between DACs because the function of a DAC is to produce in analog form that which enters the DAC. They all do their job adequately. Your comment about tubes is a throwaway. Transistors are nothing but small tubes. Get over it. My comment about phono carts and speakers is that one starting from your position that wire is wire COULD say that speakers and carts involve a transformation from the physical to the electronic, and vice versa, and the physical/electronic interface may be faulty.
I would disagree about your point regarding the cost of high-end amps. Most high-end amps cost what they cost because of the need for various people in the chain of design/manufacturing/distribution/sales to get paid. The cosmetics are there to make sure the buyer gets a warm fuzzy feeling about laying out what would still be a large amount of money for a high-end amp. But... that's only when you care about the circuit and the quality of parts inside the amp and think those aspects could have some impact on what you are listening to. If you are only worried about whether the signal comes out the other end, you only need buy the cheapest thing which plays.
Some of us are quite sure that wire is not just wire. However, just because it is not does not mean the most expensive wire is the best, or that there is not more bang for buck in doing other things to improve your sound. For me, best bang for buck in a high-end audio system is not cables or equipment but room tuning.
As to the cable shootouts mentioned, only a few commerically available cables were used (TG Audio HSR, Jade Audio Hybrids, Wireworld Gold Eclipse, a Japanese brand I forget, and some form of Coincident interconnects). The others were various homebrew recipes of different materials, geometries, dialectrics, and connectors. Among the commercial cables, I liked the TG and the Jade. Among the homebrews, I liked a super thin solid core silver with cotton tubing which a friend had made - very nice. I want to try to make a pair. Wish I had when silver was $10/oz not $40...
