Graham IC70 v. Furutech Silver Arrow

10-28-12: Wrm57
I switched to a Silver Arrow on my Phantom II and prefer it to the IC-70. I compared them directly in my system and found the Silver Arrow to offer everything the Graham does plus its more balanced through the frequency range, more relaxed without losing detail, more focused, and a bit blacker in its background. The IC-70 (of which I've owned two) subtly emphasizes the frequency extremes at the expense of the middle and has a bit of artificial edginess relative to the Furutech. I think the Graham is an excellent cable but the Silver Arrow clearly sounds better in my system.

Curious if your IC-70 came with the copper/gold Eichmann plugs (it appears to use those in pics I've seen)?
I recently replaced the copper/gold Eichmann bullet plugs on all my silver interconnects with the solid silver Eichmann bullets and was very surprised at the improvement in clarity and smoothness(as in less grainy, more open, refined and realistic). A very audible and significant improvement - especially so given this is the same plug, just different conductor material.

FWIW, I found that a short (shielded) version of these VH audio DIY silver interconnects, with the silver Eichmanns, to be more open and natural/revealing than the Furutech AG12 RCA-RCA cable (that I was using between my SUT and phono stage). The comparison may not be completely fair because the DIY cable is about 30cm vs 1.2m for the Furutech AG-12.
I use the Silver Breeze DIN-RCA cable from my Phantom II to the SUT.

I'm not touting the VH Audio cables specifically for phono use - just noting that, in my system, a lightly sheilded version of that cable with the silver Eichmanns outperformed the Ag-12.

More pertinent is that the criticisms I've read of the Graham IC-70 sound similar to the shortcomings of the copper/gold Eichmanns. If I owned that cable I would definitely be investigating the silver Eichmanns, which redress these shortcomings. Like I said above, I was very surprised by the difference in the connectors.

10-30-12: Syntax
The reason is very simple, Silver can carry 6% more information than best
copper, 15% more than gold plated connectors (AES Standard).
When silver lot is used, then you have the possible transfer line.
but normally the loss will start then at the cheap Preamp (8.95$ / pair)
inputs :-)
You will hear an improvement but it is far away from the maximum...

Syntax, sometimes its difficult to tell if you're being serious or sarcastic.

The clear audible improvement of the silver Eichmanns (over the copper/gold) is somewhat perplexing (to me).....why should it make such a difference given the various other (inferior) materials/sockets etc in the signal chain?
I suppose the possibilities for further gains could drive the neurotic audiophile crazy.

Dover, you are probably correct saying that the advantage is with the shorter cable in the SUT to phono position (ie in comparing the 1.2m Ag-12 and the 30cm VH DIY cable). I included this disclaimer.
I've certainly found that low capacitance appears to be an important factor in this position - and my short DIY cable is about as low as you can get without placing inside the chassis. I believe the (good sounding) Ag-12 is quite low, about 55pF, but the DIY cable is more like 5-10pF.

My other point - the Eichmann copper/gold vs Eichmann silver - is more valid because this was a direct substitute on the same cable/s in various positions throughout the system.