[psgarcha92]

Hey guys,
i have been thinking of going The Silver Way, with the diy LODs, interconnects and headphone cables that i am going to make in a few days.
But this is my first time, and i use my cellphone so i cant search the forum alot here,
my questions are:
i) what silver wire to go for? 22 awg? 24 awg?or 18awg?

ii) should i go for coaxial?or stranded wire?
iii)would solder on the joints matter here?i mean silver wire soldered using normal solder wire?

Thanks.

 

[tranhieu]

22 is ok, I often use 24-26 though.
what do you mean by coaxial? single core? stranded core is more flexible and hence lower chance of breaking.
why dont you try them all yourself and report back here if there's any audible difference?

 

[psgarcha92]

@tranhieu
sorry about coaxial, it meant shielded.
stranded: http://cgi.ebay.com/25-feet-20-AWG-Silver-Teflon-Wire-White-19-strands-/380324800077?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item588d1fe64d
 
Shielded Twisted pair: http://cgi.ebay.com/25-20-AWG-Shielded-Silver-Teflon-Wire-Twisted-Pair-/230592706802?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b06578f2
 
 
 
i also got:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Nerve-Audio-Vagus-20-Silver-Audio-Cable-foot-/360279709848?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e2581898
 
which one should i go for? and do these look legit???
 
also, anything about solder wire?
Thanks

 

[Lil' Knight]

The first two are always legit. Last one, I don't know if it's pure silver or just SPC. If later, it's quite overpriced.

 

[psgarcha92]

But guys,
most of the stuff from navships says
"Oxygen free copper wire Plated with silver"
is this the silver wire i am looking for? I mean, wasnt silver wire used for audio supposed to have a silver core rather than oxygen free copper?

 

[Lil' Knight]

You need pure silver wires then. Check out SonicCraft, HomeGrown Audio or Take Five Audio for some ideas.

 

[psgarcha92]

Ok, maybe my motive isn't clear enough.
I want to recable my Sansa Fuze LOD with the silver cable for more detailed listening. The detail freak in me would like to recable some RE0s with silver cable even, and i want to make some very efficient interconnects even.
So i read many threads about silver recables, but am clueless about what cable to use as to get the most that is there.
My rig in the very near future is
Sansa Fuze ( RB'd, FLAC)> LOD> Mini^3 > RE-ZEROs
when i buy a pair of Grado SR60i, i would like to recable them to silver too.
So now that the motive is known, what wire do i use? Pure silver? Copper coated silver? Shielded Silver? Stranded silver? What do i use guys?
Thanx

 

[tranhieu]

there's no such thing as the-most-detailed-wire out there. It all comes down to your own preference and budget. just get any siler wires you come across and try them yourself.
about the solder thing, I'm not the fan of it tbh. As long as it makes good solder joint, easy to use, no flux involved, no breaking over time then that's the good solder. Cardas is one brand we often go for.
is it your 1st soldering work? If so, I recommend you try recabling something else. iems are not that simple if you havent done any soldering before. there's always a chance you spoil them.

 

[psgarcha92]

@tranhieu,
i happen to know that opinions about headphones/earphones/iems/amplifiers/sources/interconnects is all subjective.
But the thing is, i don't know much about using silver cables, but there are alot of people on the forums who have used these. I dont have that kind of money that i try each and every wire and form an opinion. I need to know which is flexible enough, and if i want more detail then should it be copper plated with silver or should it be pure silver wire, what wire, 20, 22,24 awg will be better, its just bout that.
And.i have a good amount of experience soldering headphones/buds/iems.
Also, the point about soldering is, that if in any way, i make the 3.5mm male plug and solder wire, in series with the silver, the resistance would increase, even if by very small amount.whats the point of upgrading to superior conductivity at 50$ and lose it all at the solder?

 

[bik2101]

most silver wire will not be very flexible as it is almost all solid core right now afaik (correct me if i'm wrong anyone). i think i've seen cryoparts sell a stranded silver iem cable but can't seem to find the actual wire for sale anywhere. i think i saw one thread about an ebay seller over in europe (i think) selling stranded silver, which would be interesting to try out. unfortunately it's way too expensive for me to try especially with the shipping costs from the seller. 

 

[psgarcha92]

Guys, i dont understand,
should i be using the SPC silver wire? or pure silver wire?
 
Thanks

 

[ruZZ.il]

Guys, i dont understand,
should i be using the SPC silver wire? or pure silver wire?
 
Thanks

It's not practical to use solid core for headphones. SPC is good with headphones.

Solid core is nice in interconnects, like the LOD. Try that out.

Don't worry too much about the solder as long as it's decent. The length of your interconnect will have more effect on the characteristics.

 

[tranhieu]

I don't get the point of using silver solder here. Take a look at the dock's pins! They're not much better than any cheap IC jack I've seen in terms of contact. If you want to use silver solder, use it for something else.

 

[bik2101]

where's the SPC your getting coming form? if its the stuff from navships, i've used it before and its pretty microphonic for headphone recables imo. if you do go with spc. there is some nice spc from cryoparts that's about $7/foot. oh and that stranded silver i mentioned earlier from ebay - check out page 4442 of the DIY cable gallery and ask saintkeat

 

[psgarcha92]

Ok, so for modding headphones, i should go for SPC, And the interconnect i think i'd go solid core.
Hey, just out of curiousity, why would SPC be better than oxygen free copper wire that i have in my headphones? I mean they have the same copper core, how much difference would a Silver Plating make to the copper? Does it make the conductivity better than simple oxygen free copper wire?
I wish i had a computer around to check the diy cable gallery.
@tran, mayb you are right about the solder, won't be going for silver solder then.
Thanks.