[rc10mike]

What do you guys think is the best cable material for increasing clarity, sound quality, and soundstage?

 

[Music Alchemist]

Silver is indisputably the best conductor.

 

[Speedskater]

For an interconnect cable there are much more important things than conductor material.
An experimenter used other materials as a interconnect conductor.  Things like mud & a banana. A potato sounded surprisingly good.
 
What are the important things for an unbalanced RCA interconnect?
a] Low end-to-end resistance of the shield/return.
b] Good shielding.
c] Reasonably low total capacitance.

 

[Speedskater]

  Silver is indisputably the best conductor.

A 10 foot silver conductor is about the equivalent of a 9 foot 6 inch copper conductor.

 

[Mr Pluto]

My vote goes to 99.999% high purity solid core UP-OCC (monocrystal) silver in teflon insulation.
 
Material IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard)
Ranking - Metal - % Conductivity*
1 Silver (Pure)105%
2 Copper 100%
3 Gold (Pure) 70%
4 Aluminum 61%
5 Brass 28%
 
I suggest cables without any shielding. Also don`t forget that connectors are as important as anything else. Most connectors that are used (even on $$$$ cables) are actually cheap gold plated brass. I suggest some low mass low capacitance pure copper or pure silver connectors i.e. Eichmann, Xhadow, top of the line WBT etc.

 

[audioBenj]

How much does a silver cable usually cost? And, are there any specific brands I should look into?

 

[Mr Pluto]

The price depens of the AWG. For DIY projects there are couple reliable German sellers in eBay that I have used but I have also heard reports of fake UPOCC sellers in eBay mostly from Asia. I have personally seen that some Chinaman sells Xhadow look alike connectors in eBay so everything is possible

 
 
Actually a lot of great DIY stores over the net that sell pure silver wire:
 
http://www.hificollective.co.uk/wire/neotech-sost-occ-silver-wire.html
 
http://www.soniccraft.com/index.php/neotech-wire-teflon-solid-ag-c-296_175_183_225
 
http://www.takefiveaudio.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?Search=Yes&sppp=15&page=1&Keyword=UPOCC%20Silver&category=ALL&highprice=0&lowprice=0&allwords=UPOCC%20Silver&exact=&atleast=&without=&cprice=&searchfields=

 

[Music Alchemist]

  A 10 foot silver conductor is about the equivalent of a 9 foot 6 inch copper conductor.

 
Could you elaborate? I'm just stating that silver is the best conductor of electricity.
 

 

 

[Mr Pluto]

Quote:

  A 10 foot silver conductor is about the equivalent of a 9 foot 6 inch copper conductor.
 

Yep that`s a bit mystery...

 
 
Forgot to add first. Another great place for DIY silver or copper UPOCC wire and for many more useful stuff:
 
https://www.vhaudio.com/wire.html
I recently bought some KLE Harmony series RCA connectors from there. These are at least as good as Eichmann and half the price

 
 

 

[Speedskater]

Could you elaborate? I'm just stating that silver is the best conductor of electricity.
 
To elaborate, a 6 % change in conductor conductivity or a 6 % change in conductor length or a 6 % change in conductor cross-section area are all equivalent. Now in the case of an analog interconnect cable, none of these will change the sound at all.
 
Even with AC power or loudspeaker cables, where end-to-end conductivity does matter, it's better to use larger conductors or a shorter cable, than wasting money on silver.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Could you elaborate? I'm just stating that silver is the best conductor of electricity.
 
To elaborate, a 6 % change in conductor conductivity or a 6 % change in conductor length or a 6 % change in conductor cross-section area are all equivalent. Now in the case of an analog interconnect cable, none of these will change the sound at all.
 
Even with AC power or loudspeaker cables, where end-to-end conductivity does matter, it's better to use larger conductors or a shorter cable, than wasting money on silver.

 
Oh, so you were just talking about sound and price, then.

 

[Speedskater]

Oh, so you were just talking about sound and price, then.

Actually I was talking about engineering, sound and price.

 

[Music Alchemist]

  Actually I was talking about engineering, sound and price.

 
Well, I guess engineering was implied; like how it relates to the other aspects.

 

[Mr Pluto]

I wouldn`t call it a waste of money. Silver is actually very good investment.

 
If you hear the difference or not that`s another debate. I never bothered to do a blind tests but I feel that I certainly hear a difference between silver and copper cables.

 

[TylerJarvis]

I see lots of post for DIY cables. This cant be an easy task. I wouldnt even know where to begin.