This is a dangerous subject. Somewhat like religion. There's no measurable evidence so you must take it on faith.

Andrew is dead wrong about analog information on the digital cables. This is one subject that is not a matter of conjecture; functional digital cables cannot sound different. Optical and electrical interfaces cannot sound different. If they do then one is dropping data; period.

Interconnects and speaker cables do not break-in and are not directional. Both would be very bad for audio. If they actually physically changed then they should where out after a period of time; all the more reason to avoid the high dollar items. If they exhibited any directional qualities the result would be distortion which we don't want.

Now for an unsolicited plug. I usually build my own interconnects. I buy the rca connectors from ACI, they are DH Labs cheap $6.00 RCA SS-1. I use some rather expensive mini-coax I have laying around which we uses for single ended 155 mbit NRZ data transfers up to 30 meters (Barely works at 30 meters by the way). It has your standard foam Teflon dielectric, silver coated wire and is fully shielded . I'm going to buy the Outlaw cables. They have better connectors and I don't have to spend an evening building cable. My guess is that equivalent connectors would run $10 or more retail so I really see no reason not to buy the Outlaw cables. The Outlaw optical cables look quality also.

Can I hear the difference between the Outlaw cables and the ones that came in the box? Probably not; I doubt I can tell the difference between a 10 KHz sine wave and a 10 KHz square wave either. But the Outlaw cables do provide a corrosion resistant, air tight connection that will not require attention for a long time. I personally believe that the connectors and lugs are more important for line level audio cables than the cable itself, within reason of course.

I really don't think dielectric absorption is an issue with speaker level audio signals. Building/buying expensive cables with Teflon or polypropylene dielectric is overkill. A low inductance design is desirable. Check out posts from Jon Risch on audio asylum. He had a web page that illustrated building speaker cables from a high quality Beldon cable. While I don't really buy into this, building your own cables will save you a lot of cash. I will most likely use the flat 12 GA Monster cable so I can run it under the carpet, $1.50 per foot.

I really think that your money is best spent on better speakers. They are the only thing in the signal path that you hear. The John Dunlavy link is more eloquent than my post and I agree with most of his comments. Expensive cables usually have good terminations and connectors which is the only advantage they offer.