If these are used as digital cables, then you actually want as much silver as possible. In my opinion, digital cables are the only scenario where silver really is a benefit. For analog audio, I prefer pure copper and rhodium plating. It's much more natural sounding and has better ultra-high frequency response. Silver tends to push upper mids/highs in an artificial way and actually doesn't have as good response in the very high frequencies.
Best connectors for XLR cables
So far I ended up with Oyaide Neo PA-02 V2 AES/EBU XLR interconnects which should arrive this week, seemingly they had a extremely high precision geometry as well as excellent shielding + materials so I don’t think I made a wrong choice.
However the silver-plated Switchcrafts they use on both ends doesn’t entirely appeal to me, I found a very small user review about the same cable but the TRS version of it being slightly harsh, but I think with proper burn-in and some great XLR connectors this should be a non-issue, I was thinking about Furutech CF-602F and Furutech CF-601M, some interesting specs:
However the silver-plated Switchcrafts they use on both ends doesn’t entirely appeal to me, I found a very small user review about the same cable but the TRS version of it being slightly harsh, but I think with proper burn-in and some great XLR connectors this should be a non-issue, I was thinking about Furutech CF-602F and Furutech CF-601M, some interesting specs:
- α (Alpha) Beryllium copper and phosphor bronze Rhodium-plated Conductor
- Carbon fiber and nonmagnetic stainless steel housing
- Body: PVDF Fluoropolymer insulation
- Material Contact Pin : deoxidized Phosphor Bronze Insert Resin : PBT 30%GF
- Housing Shell : Brass (RHoS compliant )
- Cable Clump : Brass (RHoS compliant )
- Contact Pin : Silver plating(1.5μ)+ Rhodium plating(0.3u)
- Surface finishing: Nickel plated housing shell and hard chrome plating
- Very high quality locking system