I've used the cables from the cheapo radio shack stuff to ultra pricey. I think the sweet spot is somewhere in between. I once paid 350 bucks for a 3 foot length of Kimber Cable kcag coaxial digital interconnect and about the same for their KCAG balanced XLR interconnects. I would never spend that much on cables again...although those work well.

I have found the Belkin cables that you can buy at Sams Club to be of very high quality and not expensive at all. The Acoustic Reseach cables that used to be sold at Best Buy are also very good and cheap.

To help hook up my new digital gear, I bought a pair of 50 foot HDMI cables for 30 bucks a piece from a place on amazon as well as several 35 foot toslink digital audio cables for $11.52 each. I was a bit concerned at first that a 50 foot hdmi cable that cheap wouldn't work well. I didn't need to be concerned. The upconverted 1080P picture and digital sound transmitted through those cables couldn't be any better.

10 years ago, I paid over 250 bucks for a custom made 20 foot toslink cable. That works no better than the $11.52 cent 35 footers that I bought on amazon. They both sound great.

Scott