You have just experienced what I have spent thousands in the past 30 some odd years to learn: there is no need to spend thousands on cable to get great sound.
Absolutely. If anyone is experiencing challenges and huge differences then (after checking simple things like contact, grounding and cleaning up your power) consider to get rid of the non-performing gear at one or both ends of the wire. The simple fact is that well designed, well built and well matched gear does not need thousands of dollars worth of wire to sound good.