Oil shielded cables - what's the benefit?

Sounds like snake oil to me 

Oil provides no shielding at all.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrProggie 

I have noticed chinese "high end" sellers on Ebay selling interconnects with oil shielding.

Is it just to make the cable look cool or is there an observable benefit?

 

Examples:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Silver-Audio-Oil-Inject-Analog-RCA-Interconnects-Cable-/290502913553?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a352ae11

http://electronics.shop.ebay.com/Electronics-/293/i.html?LH_PrefLoc=2&_nkw=oil+cable&_stpos=&gbr=1

I hear that a pepper-infused oil will make your music spicier.

My guess would be that it avoids oxydation, even though I'm not sure if oxydation is even possible, or affects the sound negatively.

If you buy into the fact that cables look like capacitors, would you rather have a PVC dielectric or a paper in oil dielectric? I guess you would have to buy into different dielectrics sounding different too, but if you can hear cables you can surely hear caps.

I should preface that with my belief that any difference is going to be VERY VERY small... buy a better (insert headphone, amp, dac, recording, something that matters, etc here) before any cable. 

These cables look nice and relatively cheap but i would be afraid of a potential oil leak...

I can only think that it is to resist static buildup...oil-soaked cotton makes for a pretty good dampening layer. 

Well, as far as PCs go they started submerging them in clear oil tubs to prevent oxidation, dust bunnies and increase thermal loads for running a silent PC.  Plus it looks cool.  So if you can overclock your oiled speaker cables they should have better PRaT.  

10 years ago, I asked my dad why the cables behind the audio equipment were all oily and greasy.  He said it was normal.

Now I know he had a set of oil-infused (I think audioquest) interconnects back there.  

Yes they leak over time...

I use massage oils in my cables for a nice relaxed sound.

^ I must say, I LOL

I've heard of dry sound, liquid sound, creamy sound but this is the first that I've heard of oily sound?

I've had experience with gel filled cable for outdoor/buried use. The gel prevents water from getting into the cable, freezing, and wrecking it.

Oil filled cable performs a similar function--insulating and automatically filling voids of insulation caused by expansion or contraction. You can also pressurize and monitor  the oil, so that you know if a cable is breached. This is for industrial/utility use.

I can't think of any benefits to using oil-filled cable for home audio. And eventually it will make a mess.