2. cables
  3. 192729-159739

Let's talk about Silver...

We got off on a short tangent in another discussion about the merits of silver in cables, but we did not want to derail that conversation. So I thought I would start a general discussion where folks can share their experiences, and opinions of course, with silver cables. This can include solid silver, silver plated or alloys, wire, connectors, analog, digital etc.

The knee jerk reaction in the audio world is to say that silver is bright, and in some cases that may be true, but I think it is not a universal truth. I am currently trialing some solid silver interconnects, and I have had some good success with silver in the digital realm. Please share your experience, and opinions of course.

 

zlone

Showing 4 responses by erik_squires

erik_squires
16,653 posts
 

I also want to mention that there’s a lot of connectors made with Rhodium. I made very pretty stuff with them, but from a conductivity and grip perspect I don’t like them. Same for nickel.

Leave Rhodium for jewelry. Stick to copper, brass, gold and silver for interconnect and speaker terminals.

erik_squires
16,653 posts
 

@antigrunge2 

methinks your argument is best summarized as: compensating one weakness by another doesn’t work and you end up chasing your tail.

Pretty much, yes. Otherwise I have settled on solid core and well shielded as well, but honestly never compared to Litz cables in any form so I'm unable to comment on that.

erik_squires
16,653 posts
 

@fthompson251  - Not problematic in the sense of reliability, but over time I've found that many highly regarded audio cables are essentially subtractive in some form or another.

In my experience with WW, which was mid-level speaker and up to Gold Eclipse IC's, they were very subtractive in the mid to treble area.  Imaging improved, at the expense of overall musical energy. 

I can imagine with some speakers this would work well, and with some electronics which sound lean otherwise this could also be a good thing, but I've found playing those games exhausting and expensive.  The DH Labs/Connex pure silver IC's and Mogami speaker cables solve all my problems without giving me more.

erik_squires
16,653 posts
 

I’ve never had a problem with pure silver, and have found it among my very best choices in IC’s. I’ve had issues with silver plated which for whatever reason seems to take a while to break in, then sounds just like copper.

Personally for my most critical connection (DAC to Integrated) I made my own IC’s from DH Labs/Connex cables from Parts Connexion. In addition to being pure silver they are balanced, and foil shielded so ideal for XLR. The one downside is that being solid core they are a little brittle and can break at the terminal. Otherwise I now stick to Mogami and World’s Best. My experience playing around with Wireworld IC’s made me realize that so many boutique brands were just masking one frequency or another and I’ve tried getting away from that.

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