To recap, all of the electronic components, which includes the cables used to connect them, are at the bottom of the list. The list I'm referring to is the list of factors that you can change that make the biggest difference in sound quality.
This is about sound quality that you'll get listening in your room.

All competently made components will sound alike, and any differences will be too small to hear. This does not include equipment that has been "voiced" to sound a certain way, as in amps that have been designed to have more harmonic distortion or cables that intentionally degrade the signal. Both of these instances can result in SUBTLE differences, but do so by actually putting out a technically worse result. However, the ear likes what the ear likes, so "worse" in this instance can be a matter of taste and opinion. And remember that the ear is connected to a brain that interprets what it's getting and is therefore heavily influenced by what that brain wants to hear.

What really drives the truly subjectivity based audiophile to buy these products is the reputation of the products and the idea that in order to be in the club, you need to have it. The club I'm talking about is the one where all the coolest audiophiles hang out and brag about the gear they have and talk about how wonderful it sounds, and look down on anyone who isn't in the club.
Of course this "club" isn't (usually) anything official, as in an organized association of members, but you know you are in if you buy the right things.

Next up is the recordings and they can range from terrible to amazing. Even though the quality of the recording is largely out of your control, you can decide to be selective and not listen to the ones that sound bad. Or, and this is what I do, you can try to ignore how bad they are because you love listening to them.

Speakers are where you'll find a lot of variability in how they can sound and the differences can range from subtle (for models in the same price range, typically) to very wide. Speakers that measure the "same" can sound much different, depending on a number of factors. For example I've always preferred the presentation of larger speakers to smaller ones, even when they mostly sound the same. To me, and I'm not completely ruling out a psychological influence, the larger speaker with larger drivers delivers the sound with more authority and presence. Presence being the "it feels more real" - note "feels", not "sounds".
Other factors are how the low end is handled, whether the speaker is sealed or vented or dipole.
This is why any attempt to judge the sound quality of speakers with measurements alone is a fool's game - you have to listen to them to really know how they sound.

Lastly at the very top of the list of factors that impact sound quality is the room you'll be listening in. And it's ironic that even today, it's the one factor that is ranked the least important to most audiophiles. In fact most completely ignore it (and that includes the lab coat objectivity based ones) and will go to great lengths to deny its significance. Instead they'll spend money on things from the bottom of the list thinking the greatest differences can be realized there.

The room is the biggest wild card because there is so much about it that can affect sound quality. From the size of the room to the shape and the makeup of the walls and what's in the room - all will have orders of magnitude more influence on sound quality than all of the electronics put together.
And , also ironically, it's the one that you have the most control over, yet is almost universally ignored.

I spent nearly a full year treating my listening room and I can say without any doubt that the year spent was one of the best investments I've ever made. Since completion I've been using that room every single day. I spend all of my evenings there, from 5 in the afternoon until 10 at night, and sometimes longer.
So I have that to compare - treated to untreated, unlike most audiophiles. They THINK they know what it's like, mainly because they heard (and look for) someone else say that it isn't needed or that it "ruins" the sound, being "too dead".
I will say that a treated room is something you need to get used to, but when you do you'll never want to go back. I know I haven't.

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