Copper or silver for setup

The choice between copper and silver is highly personal, although generally you will find that silver interconnects offer more detail and quickness and copper is more warm and full. A quick use of the search function should find you quite a bit of useful information on silver versus copper and how sometimes they don't follow the rule of thumb.

silver for senns, copper for grados.

How about silver coated copper? What does it make it then?

I'm looking into this interconnect:

www.jenving.se

"EFF-I Interconnect Cable Analogue/Digital 75 Ohm
EFF-I Interconnect Cable Analogue/Digital 75 Ohm The dynamic influence of the skin effect is of great sonic influence as music and also video signals are nothing but variations. By means of the Equalized Frequency Flow technique (EFF) Supra takes skin effect into account. The EFF-I cable consists of two tube-shaped conductors with a wall thickness of 0.20 mm which is well below the smallest skin depth within the audio range. This makes a wide range in the music (or video) of frequencies pass through under the same conditions.

EFF-I Interconnect Cable Construction
Silver plated OFC copper 0.5 mm2/conductor. Tube-shaped flexible conductors with a center core of PE. Two conductors, individually screened, for balanced or semi-balanced connection.


Effective Penetration Depth (Skin Effect)

=electric conductivity

14.7 mm 0.91 mm 0.46 mm
Skin depth Skin depth Skin depth
at 20 Hz at 5 kHz at 20 kHz "


The dealer said the brand's sound is mostly warm but doesn't really know about this particular model.

In general (there are always exceptions to the rule), the Silver plated Copper will give you a sence of a larger soundstage and detailed treble and bass, however the lower mids/upper bass sounds a bit 'hollow'. If the bass on your headphones sounds too thin, you're better off with a copper cable. If the bass on your headphones sounds too bloated, go with Silver or Silver plated Copper cables.

I would recommend obtaining and trying as many different types of cable as possible.
If you are new to subtle hi fi tweakery [obviously I have no idea whether this is the case] you may not be able to detect the audible differences cables
are said to produce.
It is worth experimenting as some people hear 'night and day' differences and
some don't.
I would not worry to much either way.

As for whether silver or copper are the way to go it depends on the cable construction itself, not all silver or copper cable are the same.
I would not generalize.

If of course someone recommends a specific cable they like with similar kit,
see if you can give it an audition.

Have fun, cables can make you insane


Setmenu

I prefer silver but copper is warmer so if your system is on the bright side go with copper otherwise silver is more detailed to my ears. It also has a nice ring to it.

Too late, searching for a headphone amp has already made me insane

Regarding the bass bloatness, it depends on the cd (I won't say type of music, to generalise). Sometimes its subtle, sometimes its huge and fat (techno and new age usually)

The review regarding this particular Supra cable says that its bass is on the light side but it gives good control over the lower ends....

Here are 2 reviews if you're interested:

http://www.gmx.cz/engpages/r_supraic_uk.htm


http://www.hifichoice.co.uk/archive/...rintreview.htm

I emailed them regarding whether it is possible for my dealer to terminate the ends of the RCA (I forgot to ask about directionality) with 1/4 mono plugs and they told me to use Switchcraft or other similar quality plugs since they don't manufacture them anymore. Still considering whether to get this or AKG phones. My current Canare interconnect seems good but then again I haven't heard better

See, I'm already insane

What about Palladium (or other precious metals, such as Gold)? If Palladium ICs were as expensive/inexpensive as silver/copper ICs would you use those?

Why would they use gold?

Anyway I don't get Palladium so can't comment. I can get many interconnectors like Van De Hull, Cardas and etc but prob is finding someone to terminate them. Obviously they won't terminate the high ends one for obvious reasons. Anyway I'm also considering Audioquest, the only ones available are Sidewinder and Cobra but Cobra is very expensive.

My choices are limited you see

The Supra EFF-I has one good and one bad review. The good review says its fine with lean bass. The bad review (HI FI mag) says its unexciting

Now I'm really confuse.

copper is the way to go, cheaper, fuller, less fatiguing. imho

No kidding, I haven't even gotten around buying them because of the plethora of choices.

Fortunately this thread is just what I need, as I've decided to use either Tasker CMK 222 (copper) or Cordial C850-HA (silver plated copper). I'll just post the specs, since Tasker forces you to register before allowing you to browse their products:

Cordial CMK 222:

Mechanical data
Conductor area 0,22 mm2
Composition of conductor 28 x 0,10 mm Bare copper
Conductor insulation PE
Composition of cores 2 cores twinned
Pair screen Spiral wound copper wire screen
Overall jacket PVC
Overall diameter 6,4±0,2 mm
Weight 53 g/m
Working temperature mobile (– 5°C) – (+70°C)
fixed (–20°C) – (+70°C)

Electrical data
Conductor resistance 85 Ohm/km
Capacity (Cond./Cond.) 55 pF/m
Capacity (Cond./Screen.) 105 pF/m
Test voltage 750 V eff

Tasker C850-HA:

Cond Number Nominal Section 1x2x24 AWG
Formation 11 x 0,16
External Dimension (mm) 6,0
External core (mm) 1,5
Conductor Resistance Ohm/Km 90 ±5%
Operative Temperature (°C) -15°/+70°
Capacity (pF/mt) core/core 50
Capacity (pF/mt) core/shield 95
Max operative Voltage V AC 49V
Impedance Ohm 110

Since I only have a 0404, PC II and DT250-250s, I'm leaning towards the Cordial cable, as it's roughly 50% cheaper (I'll need 12-20m of cable...). Any opinions or suggestions? I only know that the Tasker cable is a popular IC choice among Finnish (speaker setup) DIYers.

- And if anyone knows where I could get RCA splitters (or who manufactures them), ones like Meier-Audio sells (see bottom of the page), do let me know. 14€ is a bit too much. Maybe I should just order some 'phones or an amp and get those on the side, only 5€ then.

-- Mysticaldodo, there's a mention of the Supra EFF-I on the DIY site which helped me find the cables I listed. It's in Finnish so I'll try to provide a useful translation:

Grover's Ultimate Reference. They're silver but very transparent.

You may also want to consider gold alloys (copper, silver and gold metals). The presentation really gives the best of all worlds, warmth, detail/resolution, sound staging and etc.. I have a pair of Signal Cable silver ICS which are excellent, but my Black Mountain Pinnacle's do it all. They provide a harmonically balanced, musical signature. Don't get me wrong, I would never give up my Signal Cable's because they are also great at what they do, but, gold alloy hits all the marks extremely well.