[Law87]

can someone give me some info on  all these cable terminology?
 
-Cryo treated vs non cryo created
 
-silver plated vs silver wire
 
-type 1,2,3,4,5,6, litz
 
-UPOCC
 
-OCC
 
-4N, 5N, 6N I realize this is the purity of the wire, I just like to know if anything beyond 4N is worth the difference in price
 
 
I feel like all these terms are to confuse dummies like me. Especially on ebay where they listed as "Silver PLATED cables".
 
 
Thanks.

 

[Muinarc]

can someone give me some info on  all these cable terminology?

-Cryo treated vs non cryo created

-silver plated vs silver wire

-type 1,2,3,4,5,6, litz

-UPOCC

-OCC

-4N, 5N, 6N I realize this is the purity of the wire, I just like to know if anything beyond 4N is worth the difference in price

I feel like all these terms are to confuse dummies like me. Especially on ebay where they listed as "Silver PLATED cables".

 


Cryogenically treated wire is submerged(?) in super cooled temperatures a few hundered degrees below zero usually in liquid nitrogen. This is supposed to "align" the atoms/molecules in the wire. There is little proof out there that this actually does anything for sound quality.

Silver plated wire would be like having copper wire dipped in silver (plating is more involved than this but its kind of the same idea). Silver wire would be just that, wire made entirely out of silver. Due to the Skin Effect, you could make an arguement that silver plating is all you would need to see the benefits (if any) of silver wire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_effect

Litz is a type of construction/braiding of wire. I don't know what the numbers mean, maybe number of individual wires making up teh Litz strand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litz_wire

UPOCC and OCC stand for "Ultra-Pure Ohno Continuous Casting" and "Ohno Continuous Casting" respectively. These have to do with how wire is formed and purified. http://www.audiotweak.co.za/items/1306765741-0910.pdf

The N in 4N, 5N, etc. stands for Nines. 4N copper is 99.99% pure (4 nines). There is little proof out there that this actually does anything for sound quality.

... and yes this is all designed to confuse people. It's the life-blood of a lot of the audiophile world to operate this way unfortunately.

 

[Law87]

 

  can someone give me some info on  all these cable terminology?
  -Cryo treated vs non cryo created
  -silver plated vs silver wire
  -type 1,2,3,4,5,6, litz
  -UPOCC
  -OCC
  -4N, 5N, 6N I realize this is the purity of the wire, I just like to know if anything beyond 4N is worth the difference in price
  I feel like all these terms are to confuse dummies like me. Especially on ebay where they listed as "Silver PLATED cables".

 


Cryogenically treated wire is submerged(?) in super cooled temperatures a few hundered degrees below zero usually in liquid nitrogen. This is supposed to "align" the atoms/molecules in the wire. There is little proof out there that this actually does anything for sound quality.

Silver plated wire would be like having copper wire dipped in silver (plating is more involved than this but its kind of the same idea). Silver wire would be just that, wire made entirely out of silver. Due to the Skin Effect, you could make an arguement that silver plating is all you would need to see the benefits (if any) of silver wire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_effect

Litz is a type of construction/braiding of wire. I don't know what the numbers mean, maybe number of individual wires making up teh Litz strand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litz_wire

UPOCC and OCC stand for "Ultra-Pure Ohno Continuous Casting" and "Ohno Continuous Casting" respectively. These have to do with how wire is formed and purified. http://www.audiotweak.co.za/items/1306765741-0910.pdf

The N in 4N, 5N, etc. stands for Nines. 4N copper is 99.99% pure (4 nines). There is little proof out there that this actually does anything for sound quality.

... and yes this is all designed to confuse people. It's the life-blood of a lot of the audiophile world to operate this way unfortunately.

 
 
Thanks for the explanation, that actually clear it up a little. Are you a believer or a non-believer of cables? that actually does play a role on your perception of all those terminology.

 

[Muinarc]

I'm a skeptic when it comes to cables. I feel the money is best spent elsewhere in an audio system. That being said, I do like nice things so I have some fairly fancy cables, but only because they are nice. Well built cables tend to last longer.

 

[Law87]

I'm a skeptic when it comes to cables. I feel the money is best spent elsewhere in an audio system. That being said, I do like nice things so I have some fairly fancy cables, but only because they are nice. Well built cables tend to last longer.

I actually do think cable make a difference because I bought my Alpha dog with a stock and aftermarket braided cable. Definitely a noticeable difference.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Silver plated wire would be like having copper wire dipped in silver (plating is more involved than this but its kind of the same idea). Silver wire would be just that, wire made entirely out of silver. Due to the Skin Effect, you could make an arguement that silver plating is all you would need to see the benefits (if any) of silver wire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_effect

At GHz frequencies perhaps.

Litz is a type of construction/braiding of wire. I don't know what the numbers mean, maybe number of individual wires making up teh Litz strand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litz_wire

http://www.litzwire.com/litz_types.htm

UPOCC and OCC stand for "Ultra-Pure Ohno Continuous Casting" and "Ohno Continuous Casting" respectively. These have to do with how wire is formed and purified. http://www.audiotweak.co.za/items/1306765741-0910.pdf

The Ohno process has nothing to do with purification. It is strictly a casting process that uses a heated mold with controlled cooling to reduce the number of grain boundaries that can cause breakouts when casting extremely fine wire and foils. But most all wire is cast as 3/8 inch rod and then drawn down to the final wire size. Wire is routinely drawn down to 50 gauge (finer than a human hair) without using the Ohno process.

se

 

[Speedskater]

All of those terms are designed to remove money from your wallet.  While all cables are not equal, none of those terms will make a better cable.

 

[Law87]

At GHz frequencies perhaps.
http://www.litzwire.com/litz_types.htm
The Ohno process has nothing to do with purification. It is strictly a casting process that uses a heated mold with controlled cooling to reduce the number of grain boundaries that can cause breakouts when casting extremely fine wire and foils. But most all wire is cast as 3/8 inch rod and then drawn down to the final wire size. Wire is routinely drawn down to 50 gauge (finer than a human hair) without using the Ohno process.

se

 
 
so silver plated and silver wires are two seperate thing?

 

[Steve Eddy]

so silver plated and silver wires are two seperate thing?

Yes. As someone has already explained, silver wire is all silver. Silver plated wire is copper wire that has had the surface of it played with silver.

se

 

[Muinarc]

The Ohno process has nothing to do with purification. It is strictly a casting process that uses a heated mold with controlled cooling to reduce the number of grain boundaries that can cause breakouts when casting extremely fine wire and foils. But most all wire is cast as 3/8 inch rod and then drawn down to the final wire size. Wire is routinely drawn down to 50 gauge (finer than a human hair) without using the Ohno process.

se

 


Thanks for clarifying Steve, I read that pdf to see if I should remove the part about purity but decided to leave it since it wasnt too clear to me what a 700ft long copper grain means.

 

[Steve Eddy]

Thanks for clarifying Steve, I read that pdf to see if I should remove the part about purity but decided to leave it since it wasnt too clear to me what a 700ft long copper grain means.

No problem. Yeah, purity has to do with the presence of other elements in the metal, and grain boundaries aren't considered an impurity. Though interestingly, when copper purities are given, silver isn't considered an impurity either. In the context of OCC, purity is at the discretion of whomever is producing it.

se

 

[Law87]

Yes. As someone has already explained, silver wire is all silver. Silver plated wire is copper wire that has had the surface of it played with silver.

se

so when a company advertise "hybrid" cable is that what they mean? in your opinion is there a big difference between silver plated-copper wire and silver wire ?

 

[Steve Eddy]

so when a company advertise "hybrid" cable is that what they mean? in your opinion is there a big difference between silver plated-copper wire and silver wire ?

"Hybrid" usually means that some wires are copper and some wires are silver, or some other combination of metals.

All else being equal, a given length of silver wire will have slightly less electrical resistance (by about 6%) than a silver plated copper wire because the conductivity of silver is slightly grater than copper and the silver plating is so thin that it really doesn't change that. But a little less resistance is meaningless because you can use a slightly larger copper wire and end end up with a lower resistance than the silver.

se

 

[Law87]

"Hybrid" usually means that some wires are copper and some wires are silver, or some other combination of metals.

All else being equal, a given length of silver wire will have slightly less electrical resistance (by about 6%) than a silver plated copper wire because the conductivity of silver is slightly grater than copper and the silver plating is so thin that it really doesn't change that. But a little less resistance is meaningless because you can use a slightly larger copper wire and end end up with a lower resistance than the silver.

se

ah make sense now, thank you!