We manufacture cables, and use three different types of RCAs, after trying many many more. The gold plated Eichmann is one of them and sounds warmish, relaxed, coherent and a little laid back compared with metal RCAs. Poor metal RCAs will add grain, project images forward and sound much less coherent. Some better metal RCAs, such as the top of the line Furutechs, that we also use, will add extension, speed and refinement on top of what the Eichmann achieves. Or to put it another way, we really like the Eichmann gold-plated RCAs on our cables, as our cables excel at speed, liveliness and dynamics. But the Eichmanns are a little rolled off top and bottom, and if you are being picky, the treble lacks a bit of refinement. On the wrong cable I am not surprised to hear reports of them being a bit dull. But they can be extremely cost effective on the right cable. When it comes to the price level of the Silver Eichmanns, I think there are better RCAs - from Xhadow, Furutech etc. Note that my views will be biased by the fact I have only extensively tested RCAs on our own cables, so take that into account. Sonia.