I'm thinking of making myself a new power cord for my headphone amp (for the look as much as anything), and was doing some reading on the different wire available. I ran across several people recommending silver-plated copper (mil-spec) wire.
This got me thinking. Silver is slightly more conductive than copper, but so is fatter copper. Silver plating will only give a very small difference in conductivity unless the frequency is high enough to give a significant skin effect, which certainly isn't the case for power cables. So how can anyone hear a difference from silver plating?
One possible answer occurred to me while contemplating the name "mil-spec". The main purpose of silver-plated copper is actually to provide corrosion resistance in hazardous area, like chemical plants or military applications. I also discovered another interesting fact - teflon insulated wire is always silver-plated to protect it from the corrosive chemicals used in the teflon-coating process.
My theory then is that the (apparently) audible differences from silver-plated copper actually come from the different dielectric properties of the teflon insulation rather than the increased conductivity of the silver. Certainly for low frequencies anyway, and I reckon it applies to audio frequencies too (depending on your religious persuasion with regards to the skin effect)
Anyone got other theories?
[And yes, I know I probably won't hear any difference from my new power cord but at the least it will look pretty].
This got me thinking. Silver is slightly more conductive than copper, but so is fatter copper. Silver plating will only give a very small difference in conductivity unless the frequency is high enough to give a significant skin effect, which certainly isn't the case for power cables. So how can anyone hear a difference from silver plating?
One possible answer occurred to me while contemplating the name "mil-spec". The main purpose of silver-plated copper is actually to provide corrosion resistance in hazardous area, like chemical plants or military applications. I also discovered another interesting fact - teflon insulated wire is always silver-plated to protect it from the corrosive chemicals used in the teflon-coating process.
My theory then is that the (apparently) audible differences from silver-plated copper actually come from the different dielectric properties of the teflon insulation rather than the increased conductivity of the silver. Certainly for low frequencies anyway, and I reckon it applies to audio frequencies too (depending on your religious persuasion with regards to the skin effect)
Anyone got other theories?
[And yes, I know I probably won't hear any difference from my new power cord but at the least it will look pretty].
