Good question. Good responses.
If it's possible to get you hands on the cable of interest, give it a listen in your system.
Referring to your speciflc reference to AQ: As the AWG increases, there are other changes in material quality, geometry, dialetric, shielding, etc. The differences will be taking in more factors than AWG alone, so it won't be a linear 15AWG vs 10AWG comparison. Also helps explain the price jump.