Like many others I use Blue Jeans (IC's and Speaker) for most of my setup. There is a difference between cables as far as the materials used / construction and how this will impact your system. I liken it to tweaking EQs though what I mostly look for are secure, quality connectors and a clean build first. And like fredgarvin said, a good cable doesn't have to be expensive and some expensive ones won't jibe with your system or your ears. That all said, every part of your system goes to make up the sound. Have fun but don't kill yourself over this or get in too deep. Some good options if you want to try more is the BT forum or the Cable Company where you can have cables sent to you on a trial basis. Just my 2c's, YMMV. :0)
This is great advise IMHO.. Try them before spending your money. The loaners from the Hi Fi shop is a wise move. Listening for yourself in your system is the only way to know. The internet is full of every opinion imaginable.
Just a couple observations on the worms.. Cable construction can cause differences in sound. Whether or not a mere difference, is actually an improvement or not is up to the listener. Its up to the system owner to determine if the possible difference is worth paying for. Higher price doesn't mean better performance. Very system dependent.
A perfect conductor would have no effects and do no harm. Cable construction matters because it can do more harm than good. For instance, some constructions sell the benefits of shielding in speaker cables and solving noise issues that really don't exist due to low speaker impedance etc..
So by building a fat cable with layers of dielectric and shields repeatedly, the capacitance of the cable is increased. To someone who has a bright sounding system with some glair, this construction could be noticed as an improvement. They may say, they "smoothed or tamed" the high end. They may say that the midrange was improved due to the same effect of capacitance and other effects of the construction.
A theoretically perfect conductor would "do no harm". Staying closer to that ideal, doesn't require huge amounts of expensive materials and layers of dielectric and shielding. This may cause a "difference", but it can often be the result of a design weakness, and doing harm technically, rather than a real improvement in the function of the cable. Beware of "differences". They are real and are for sale. Is the difference really an Improvement, or the results of designs selling solutions to problems that mostly don't exist? By doing so, also making the compromises to the signal that also occur as a result of some construction types. More is often not better, and is often worse, if your goal is to do no harm. Differences are common, real improvements are rare. Sometimes it seems that if an improvement is evasive, a "difference" can be sold as the same thing by marketing, and to some it will be perceived/described as an improvement .
