Are some cord companies "potting" the Oyaide ends?

777, It is also done to effect reliability. It is much more difficult to have screws loosen or pull the cable completely out. It's a liability thing. Oxidation could certainly be reduced with the right product.

They don't use silicone(normally), you could pull that enough to break it loose, but probably not clean it out enough to get the full metal and all that totally exposed and re-useable as new.. They use literally "JB weld" from most companies I have seen, and it will never come apart.. This is common in very delicate cables like Interconnects with locking RCA ends as those high purity silver 22 gauge etc.. types are very weak connections especially after weakining them further with heated solder or crimping, and a few twists these solid core cables would just break at the connection.. And yes this also seals it completley from oxidation as well.

I can say this you could normally buy for not much more than a few bucks a 2 meter power cord over a 1 meter, cut it in half, and then just buy 2 new connnectors in order to make 2 cables out of it.. I have done this several times in the past with excellent results, but you need to know what and how to do each cable correctly.

Thank you all for your enlightenment on the subject. Any suggestions on how I might best try to open up and bring forward the top end of a system currently outfitted fully w/ Lessloss cords. I find the Lessloss performance level to be very high and appealing but, with very laid back upper mids on up to the top. I have a couple of differently terminated Cryomax III cords on hand that I tried on the transport. The Cyomax wire just can't compete. I'm thinking about an Acrolink DIY w/ either Oyaide 004 or 046 ends, based on the meager amount of feedback out there on Acrolink. Other ideas? (let's not go down the silver road, please).