What makes a better phono cable ?

You have to be careful with silver. It does things that copper can't do, but doesn’t always sound better. Well designed solid core silver, in my experience, is the most compatible. For my TT's, I use AQ Cheetah. Not only does it sound great, but the DBS system helps the cables break in fast, and keeps them broken in for longer periods of time when not in use. A good feature for vinyl.

"03-12-15: Franklapdog
Jmcgrogan2
Your comment is so true but somewhere in my past travels,I heard that solid core silver with low capacitance makes for a better phono cable because of the very low signal transfer.Is this not correct?"

Not necessarily. Ultimately, I believe Jmcgrogan2 is correct. You have to take everything on a case by case basis. The solid core silver was my recommendation based on my own personal experience. While I think there's a pretty good chance a silver AQ cable would make you happy, there's no guarantee. That same cable, in other applications in my system, doesn't always sound as good as the copper version of the same cable.

The safest way to do this would be to get a good deal on a used pair. That shouldn't be too difficult because its no longer in production. If you don't like it, you can probably sell it for very close to what you pay for it, so the risk is low. Also, up to this point, I've been able to find one spot in any given system I put together, where the silver cable sounds good. Again, that's no guarantee, but something to just keep in mind.