Mrtennis, Pjwd,
you are indeed quite right, I think. Crimping or a good screw-down connection is - theoretically at least - to be preferred. If however soldering is done right and you manage to get a good and tight metal to metal connection first before applying a touch of solder - we at least - could not really hear any difference.
By the way, while doing these experiments, we found out to our dismay, that the original soldering on those quite expensive cables we used was terrible, to say the least. More often than not, metal to metal conduct was not made, but the joints just bathed in solder. This experience motivated the members of our group to check and resolder all our wires if necessary. The results, I assure you, were
staggering. ( transparency, micro-dynamics, resolution in general)
Cheers and happy listening,
Detlof