Anybody experienced greening IEM cables?

My guess oxidized copper

Yes, me too.  Not suppose to affect sound in any way.  I prefer black cables to avoid this.

I've experienced some discoloring as well but not THAT green..lol holy ****

My Westone clear cable started greening after only 2 weeks. My current UE clear cable started after about a month, but at least the greening kinda matches the Ice Blue colour of my ES3X and looks quite nice.

 

^ That's what the UE cable looks like after nearly a year with it . Before that, I used the Westone cable for over a year.

 

Below is the Ultimate Ears cable 4 months ago (7 months old).

 

 

... and below the Westone cable after 14 months

 

 

 

EDIT: Added two pics

Edited by music_4321 - 7/9/11 at 5:50pm

Cu + O2 = 2 Cu2O...  Oxidized copper...  That's why pennies turn green too :) (and the statue of liberty).

 

It happens to non-transparent cable too, but you won't notice them because you are not from Krypton.

 

 

They should turn green...  The statue of liberty is proof of it.  And what ClieOS meant was that dark (non-transparent wires) also do turn green (the copper does), but since the cable isn't transparent/translucent, you can't see it yourself.
 

 

Resale?

Why you're using the wrong term here. Some people call it oxidation.

But those of us who enjoy antiques call it patina. We value patina and pay extra for it.

It's a mystery to me why hi-fi folks are hung up on preserving everything in as-new condition. That's not how life works.

I have a favorite example: my brass dining room chandelier. It dates to around 1906. Got it for $50 some years ago. It had been painted and mistreated over the years. So I stripped that off, polished it and used period-correct wiring and old ceramic sockets to restore it. That was almost 15 years ago. I could have lacquered it, but chose to let it oxidize to a nice brown. It looks great. I let everything age except for things that are so far gone they have to be refinished. In that case, I use an appropriate finish and then let nature take its course.

Also, the most beautiful car I've ever seen was an old 427 Cobra that still had its original paint and upholstery. It gets driven regularly, too, as it deserves to be. The mechanicals were in great shape, but the paint had spiderwebs of cracks, dings from road gravel, and the upholstery was worn and had multiple obvious repairs.

But it all seemed to fit together. A true classic still out terrorizing the roads while unafraid of its age. I asked the owner if I could touch it.

"Yes."

A real treat, since the trailer queens only get touched with gloves and diapers. But this was a real car.

It's not the same at all, is it? On a statue or antique copper decorative piece, the copper is a symbol of age, which usually increases the value. On an electronic component, it means more oxidized copper, less purity of the conductor, and possible worse conductive capability resulting in worse sound (I can't vouche for that, I just imagine that would happen.

 

You can't compare something with purely aesthetic meaning to something with pratical meaning, since in the former it's encouraged, and in the latter it's associated with deterioration of what it was purchased for - carrying an electrical signal.