[SteeleBlayde]

I dont think the Cardas Golden References are made out of solid 24K gold...... LMAO.

 

[pbirkett]

Its a myth that silver cables are brighter, although I have found that silver coated copper cables are a lot brighter, but never pure silver. They are more detailed and smoother however.

 

[kuma]

Quote:

Originally posted by pbirkett Its a myth that silver cables are brighter, although I have found that silver coated copper cables are a lot brighter, but never pure silver. They are more detailed and smoother however.

I second this. Only deficit of silver cables I have heard so far is still let go a bit of bass over copper. Altho, good silver ones time better than most copper cabling.

And ALL silver plated anything results in a bad news.

And of course still many exceptions to rules.

 

[SteeleBlayde]

I was always under the impression that silver was the best material for wire plating...

Something about being the best material for reducing skin effect.

 

[kuma]

Quote:

Originally posted by SteeleBlayde I was always under the impression that silver was the best material for wire plating... Something about being the best material for reducing skin effect.

That maybe. But they don't sound good.

 

[rcrump]

Silver plated copper wire works great for DC wire. Silver plated connectors work fine as well and most of the switches in any unit uses silver plated contacts or coin silver (90% ag/10% cu)......I sure don't care for silver plated copper used for AC or signal, but silver clad copper is OK for signal......

 

[Sean H]

Whoa, wait a minute, er, hello?

Bob, is that you? You aren't strapping speakers to your head now too are you?

 

[rcrump]

I don't know, let me look......Yep, it is me.....Bob Hirsch mentioned that someone said I was using a network in my commerical power cords and that is true, but wanted to see what was said and had to register so thought I would throw my 2 cents into this thread as silver or clad (mechanical vs chemical process) copper can be wonderful, but don't care for coated copper unless you are talking contacts and no way around that as they need to be coated with something and silver has better focus than gold or rhodium and isn't bright like nickel......

 

[SENOR4Q]

Maybe this sounds stupid, but what about copper plated silver wire, or gold plated silver wire. Theoreticaly it could should mellow out the cable and maybe give it better bass, no?

 

[eric343]

All of you who say that hooking cables to an analyzer shows no difference between cable quality might want to take a look at this thread:

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...340#post500340

 

[Sean H]

Quote:

Originally posted by kuma I think material used for conductor alone can't determine how they sound at the end. It seems many other variables influence the outcome.

Exactly, and it's not just the material but also the geometry and connectors, as I said before.

 

[Sean H]

Quote:

Originally posted by fewtch Hate to say it, but the idea that a cable could emphasize certain frequencies is a little more far out than the idea a cable could roll off frequencies (which maybe could happen in extreme cases of capacitance issues with the cable). These are not transducers, they're electrical conductors -- they do nothing but conduct electricity. Look at it this way -- imagine you've got input and output jacks on a headphone amp. Between the input and output jacks are nothing but a bunch of thin traces on a circuit board, with some electrical components in there that have tiny, thin leads on them. I can't conceive how connecting a silver cable to the input and output jacks would do anything with those tiny, thin circuit traces and aluminum component leads in between the two. Not to mention when the signal passes through an op-amp, which contains some almost microscopic transistors, etc. You want to put a thick cable on the input and output, what's that gonna do?

Thick cables? Thick cables, thick cables, what's up with the thick cables thing? Yeah I guess some big dollar ridiculous cables are thick but that's not due to their conductor gauge size it's all the shielding and crap around them making up for the thickness. Fewtch, all I'm saying is give a couple cables a try and see what you think and then come debate against cables instead of saying "I can't imagine" over and over. Now don't get all pissed at me, this is just a friendly debate. Why not just try some cables for yourself?

 

[tortie]

Here are George Cardas' 2 cents on the subject:

"Q&A with George Cardas

jude: All of your interconnects are made with copper conductors. And in one of your catalogs is the following quote: "Copper has proven to be the best conductor for an audio signal..." Lately there has been a strong emphasis on silver conductors by many cable manufacturers. In general, do you consider copper a better conductor for an audio signal than silver?

George Cardas: In general, yes. We make the majority of all the ultra pure copper and silver used in high-end audio; but I choose to use only the ultra pure, ultra soft copper in my personal products.

jude: Why?

George Cardas: For starters, it sounds better. Silver is the best DC conductor, but, embodiment for embodiment, it is more inductive than copper. This trait, combined with its inherently lower loss, accounts for the bright, fatiguing quality of most of the silver cables (silver has approximately 5% more skin effect than copper). There have been many attempts at silver cables but little success. I think the problem in part is the cost of doing a proper conductor out of the metal. By the time the manufacturer buys the metal, there is little budget for a properly designed conductor; so they just use a monofilament solid core. This complicates an already bright situation. Silver is also a relatively hard metal and difficult to anneal. Hard coppers (linear crystal, etc.) also failed because of their tendency to ring mechanically. Electrically, silver is like a speaker box with no damping material. It will be more efficient, but it will have a definite "sound". All in all, your money is far better spent on good conductor geometry and copper.

jude: What is your opinion of silver-plated and/or silver-clad copper as an audio conductor?

George Cardas: Silly. The propagation and transfer impedance of the metals differs and their juncture is diodic. Ensuring a constant transfer is important. Silver and plating make some sense in very high frequency applications, such as video, but are not a good idea in audio."

Its in this thread:
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...rdas+interview

 

[kuma]

Quote:

Originally posted by fewtch You want to put a thick cable on the input and output, what's that gonna do?

Cuz, it *can* change things.

Sometimes, not necessarily for better, but, it can alter a signal. Thickness of cables do not warrant better fidelity as well as I had few instances stock cables actually sounded better than fancy ones. (both thick and thin ) Nonetheless, it is a *change*. So, cables must be doing something to the signal.

 

[xtreme4099]

how bout silver mixed with copper ... some kinda alloy.. anyone doing that ...