Cardas Cold Forging

All said, $400 for retermination is definitely not VFM. Whether it is robbery or not cannot be confirmed without listening though.

One thing I haven't seen addressed either in the Cardas video or in this thread is that Cardas wire is coated - from their website:

As each strand is drawn, the resultant ultra pure surface is immediately given a urethane enamel "Litz" coating. This is a continuous process that results in a perfectly insulated strand and ultimate longevity of the conductors. Ordinary uncoated copper stranding corrodes in a relatively short time. Cardas meticulously maintains the purity of the conductor strands until they are sealed at termination.

In their previous soldering process it is my understanding the wire was "tinned" in a solder pot to remove the enamel coating. In the ultrasonic welding link posted above, enamel coatings are removed by "high frequency vibration." How is the enamel removed in the Cardas "Cold Forging" process, or is it simply mashed into the connection?

Lenny, I'll give my opinion freely without question. Thanks.

The fact that I have not heard them does not mean anything. But one thing can be true, fusing different metals can easily change the electrical properties in a negative way. So there may be some truth to the improvement by making the connection as solid as possible without actually binding the material.

And it all goes back to YOUR ears. Why do I even bother commenting on a subjective subject anyway? ;)

No, I don't have to prove sound quality is worth the $400. It in no way should cost near $400 to have this type of re-termination.

Zu cold forges their interconnects which cost 100 bucks on sale.

I had the process done on my Golden Reference for $300, and the improvement is obvious. Smoother, more information coming through, more organic. I'm very happy with the results.

As far as the comments casting doubt on the value, this is my understanding of the process after speaking with a Cardas technician:
Day one: Old terminations removed. Ends are dipped in solvent to remove the clear coat on every strand.
Day two: dipped again, while being agitated. Set out to dry
Day three: unwind the conductors using a couple of wire wheel hand tools to remove remaining residue from stripping process. Two stage crimping process, resulting in each strand being fused into a solid lump, and then fused onto spades.

A word about the spades: they are not cheap. They are machined pure copper spades with silver plate and rhodium flash.

This sounds like a labor-intensive, time consuming process to do 8 of these. Regardless, I've spend a lot more money to get less improvement in sound. There are always going to be nay-sayers. Hearing is believing.