Cables, just as important as a hi end component?

What is fine compared to better if you do not try it.
Yes better cabling can do justice to a capable component/system, so choose, depending on wallet and involvement where you want to be.

Did you mean to ask about room acoustics?  :-)

Seriously though, I don't think trying to budget by price is the right way to go. 

While cables matter, they are super subtle, sometimes bad, changes to a system. A higher price should not encourage you.  Build your own if you want to start at the high end on a budget. Pure silver interconnects should be everyone's baseline, and you can get there in DIY land for a fraction of what you can in the commercial space.


https://www.partsconnexion.com/DHLABS-57225.html

If you start with those you are going to have a very very difficult time spending megabucks with commercial ICs.

The DH Labs BL-1 interconnect is not pure silver. It is silver coated stranded copper. 

I've been pretty impressed with DH Labs cables, but if your goal is pure silver, this doesn't quite get you there. 

To answer your question, no, I don't think cables are as important as the components.