So, what 'cheap' pure silver cable do you suggest?
Well, I’m not saying that the TRN cable is or isn’t pure, solid silver (not just silver plated). I would have to do assay testing of a TRN cable to know for sure.
I DO know for a 100% fact that FiiO makes a pure, solid silver cable of very high quality. It runs $100, which is a very reasonable price. That’s why the low price of the TRN cable raises big red flag for me.
As far as the price, $10/meter is a pretty good rule of thumb price for solid silver wire of the typical gauge used for headphone cables. However, if you have a multi-core cable, you have to multiply that price x8 for an 8-core cable, x16 for a 16-core cable, etc.
So assuming a cable is 0.5meter long, an 8-core cable would use 4 meters of cable. At $10/meter, that’s $40 for JUST the bare wire. You then have to add in the ends, y split, soldering, labor, packaging, shipping, profit, etc.
See why a “pure silver” 8-core cable for $23 shipped sounds awfully suspicious and too good to be true? Especially given TRNs history of using fake wires that aren’t even connected anywhere, super thick insulation to make wires appear that the copper conductor is a heavier gauge than it really is, etc.
I’d love to get one of these T3 silver cables, properly test it, and be pleasantly surprised by TRN.