Haha you're definitely in the know when it comes to this stuff, you can be my wingman in the cable-fi crusade anytime!
VH audio's stuff is great, but the prices that silver commands is a little too much for the average consumer to DIY himself. As for internal wiring, I still use copper for all my projects just for it's cost, plus I want to build the amp true to it's design so I want to avoid any internal coloration for the time being... I do truthfully use Homegrown Audio OCC copper because it's fairly cheap (like 0.75/ft), it's high quality, and the people behind the brand are good people who are supporting people on a budget.
It's a real shame that Mr. Lee from Cryoparts passed, there was some great gear passing through those doors, and for some of the things that place produced, you really are not going to be able to find alternatives for. Their carbon fiber 3.5mm's were to die for!
Yeah silver gets pricey in a hurry. Fortunately I only need about 5 feet of the VH 18AWG wire to go from the board to the headphone socket, good thing as its $25 a foot. Homegrown Audio has some great wire. Neotech's OCC hookup wire is also very reasonable, I'm using that to wire the power supply section. It's about $1.70 for the PVC insulated version, or $3 for Teflon.
Cryo parts and Locus Design will definitely be missed. The Locus cables were the tip of the spear in terms of pushing computer audio forward. The Nucleus and Cynosure cables had no competition. Ridge Street Audio has some promising wires and I except them to keep improving their Poiema and Alethias designs, but for those that wanted the best possible USB cable, there was only one place to go. Really too bad.
