Jeff,

Your response is mostly the way I see it. I don't have a problem buying more esoteric interconnects, piece by piece and then listening critically to the change. But I tend to agree with you. There is a value segment of cabling that gives a good balance of prices versus performance. Anything above that debatable segment and the performance increases asymptotically while price increases exponentially.

I find some of the claims by the high end cable maunfacturers to be interesting (laughable?) in theory (sometimes we might ask "what theory?"...more like qualitative BS). These seem to be techno types with a slick marketing background trying to stake out a premium market segment. There is nothing wrong with that, it is the way of capitalism and it is not a bad word (Caveat Emptor). There's no volume there so the revenue and subsequent profit has to be outrageously higher.

If you've got no money constraints and are so compelled to pay the most, I say go git 'em! Somehow I'd rather spend my few extra pennies on my kid's education rather than sitting there and saying for a thousand bucks more in cabling I can definitely hear the singer breathing that one extra time...
Priorities are a personal choice. Market hype and claims just cloud the exercise. Audiophile (snootiophile?) peer pressure tends to do the same. Some peoples' hobby is the joy of tweaking, some peoples' is the joy of listening. "Balance" is an operative concept here.