The philosophy promoted by many mainstream stereo magazines (and thus often the belief of the general public) is that one should spend a minimum amount of one's hi-fi budget on electronics and front ends, and a maximum amount on loudspeakers. Since all electronics sound alike and it's the loudspeaker that really produces the sound, the highest overall performance is obtained by putting expensive loudspeakers at the end of a chain of inexpensive electronics. Cables? Don't waste your money.
Jon Reichbach of Sonic Studio/Amarra displayed the latest Amarra sQ+ 2.3 inline DSP processor. The software can equalize music's entire range, if desired, before sending it along for playback