After many years in this business I would say that cables can sound quite different, some are better in a given system and some sound good in a lot of different systems. The decision of how much one must spend to get the best sounding cable is strictly up to the consumer, and I don't really blame the cable manufacturers in going for it. No matter how much someone may express dismay at the prices, somebody is paying those prices because they think the performance is worth it. That is all the justification a cable manufacturer needs to set his pricing. Whether or not $18K or whatever looks reasonable for the materials and labor involved, I do think guys like Ray Kimber, and Caelin Gabriel at Shunyata do use very high quality raw materials that are at the top of the price range.