Copper vs silver cables - Page 9

Originally Posted by rodentmacbeastie

Personally, I think at test where the listener does not know a damn thing about anything is best Philadox. This way there should be no preconceived ideas or conclusions. My opinion with copper and silver and even gold or construction techniques is irrelevant as long as they are built to last. In the end, the best way is to buy a few pairs, listen to them and sell the others you don't like. Besides, I am a firm believer that the information is always present regardless of the cable, the difference in sound in just your perception. Your perception of that information CAN make cables sound different though. I am not talking about placebo at all either. I truly believe that the material and construction method used cannot alter the sound, just your perception of it! My gold plated silver/copper/gold alloy cables sound best to me but I am not suggesting that there is more or less info, bass weight, treble smoothness, or midrange purity, just that my body and mind work better alongside these materials.

When I am happy and healthy, silver and copper sound very similar to me. At a little stress, lack of sleep(my problem) and the silver is very tiring and often bright in my system. The alloy I am using tends to sound the same all of the time. This is why EE will often argue that there is no way the metal used can mechanically alter the sound, because they don't(IMHO)! It happens to sound different on a level that occurs in your physiology. The whole metaphysical thing! Nobel prize winning scientists(not EE's) believe in the metaphysical attributes of conductors so I feel OK about my ideas. Not to say that EE's ideas are not sound, just that they generally regurgitate theory accepted as fact and taught to them, not create theory to further science. However, if my and some of the top research minds' theories do not please you and you want a empirical approach, carbon is by far a better conductor over any of the previously mentioned.

Here are the resistivity values for a few [ρ (nΩ·m)]
-silicon dioxide(1300 °C) 0.004
-carbon, amorphous 0.35
-germanium 0.46
-carbon, diamond 2.7
-silver 15.9
-copper 17.1
-gold 22.1
-tungsten 52.8
-zinc 59
-brass 64
-nickel 69.3
-lithium 92.8
-iron 96.1
-platinum 105
-palladium 105.4
-tin (0 °C) 115
-solder 150

So, based on resistive numbers alone(I hate to do that), silver betters copper only by a little and it all becomes mute when you see the resistance in the solder used to hold them together. Keep in mind that non-metal semi-conductors must be doped to achieve good results. Find a way to join wires and not use solder and you will find that could mean more of an improvement. Also, this may show why high carbon cables are the best for performance but are not practical due to their very fragile and rigid nature. If you want the best bar none, heat up your new silicon dioxide cables to 1300 degrees since it is very resistive at room temp. I am thinking that the best results for getting the best from you circuit is to point to point wire it and then gold plate everything(especially the solder). Why gold plate and not silver? CORROSION IS VERY BAD FOR CONDUCTIVITY! I could be wrong but the information I read was from three dudes who won the Nobel science prize for work in semiconductors. However, I thought the resistivity and conductivity are similar but not the same... Maybe an EE can verify this before I preach this as the gospel according to Rodent.