This topic has been covered here many times. The Linn/Naim camp and many others swear that you MUST always put your "best" anything as close to the front of the chain as possible. But it's just not that simple with electronics nor with cables. One cable that is considered not to be very good in one link may turn out to be quite magical in another. There is no "best" here.
My repeated observations have been that the cable link from preamp to amp can make or break the system's 3-dimensional performance more than any other cable in the system. But so few systems out there have such capability that it does not matter much. And thus the focus with cables tends to be tonality (tonal coherency), maybe differences in detail and for some system, dynamic contrasts.
Cables are often referred to as tone controls. There are a lot of differences between cables that go far beyond tonality. You will be making a grave mistake if this is all you focus on between cables.
I suggest that you ignore all claims that any specific link in the system deserves the "best" cable. Try the various cables that you have in each link and if possible borrow some others to play with as well. You might be pleasantly surprised at how a cable outperforms another in one link and yet in another link, it is difficult if not impossible to hear a difference between the two. If this is the case, you just might save some money. And the cost of the cable often has nothing to do with the outcome.
John
My repeated observations have been that the cable link from preamp to amp can make or break the system's 3-dimensional performance more than any other cable in the system. But so few systems out there have such capability that it does not matter much. And thus the focus with cables tends to be tonality (tonal coherency), maybe differences in detail and for some system, dynamic contrasts.
Cables are often referred to as tone controls. There are a lot of differences between cables that go far beyond tonality. You will be making a grave mistake if this is all you focus on between cables.
I suggest that you ignore all claims that any specific link in the system deserves the "best" cable. Try the various cables that you have in each link and if possible borrow some others to play with as well. You might be pleasantly surprised at how a cable outperforms another in one link and yet in another link, it is difficult if not impossible to hear a difference between the two. If this is the case, you just might save some money. And the cost of the cable often has nothing to do with the outcome.
John