Actually, our whole hobby is a necessary evil in that we would all rather have the live performance in front of us. But you'd hurt Bob Dylan's feelings when, after 45 minutes, you switched to Miles (well, I guess you couldn't) ;-) So, yes -- I agree with Bluenose that cables are also a necessary evil. I think the core advice from Bluenose is "try before you buy" -- there are 30 day trial periods aplenty. As Sean indicated, your system (combined with your room acoustics) is unique. As Tekunda suggested in another post, cable companies seldom test for impurities so there is no real assurance (except for some companies) that even two cables from the same company sound alike. Try, try, try and trust your ears!
