Looking for pure copper or Cu/Au bananas

I like the Vampire XLR connectors at Parts Connextion for the money. Pure copper and solidly built. If you have the budget, then I bet the ETI’s would sound a bit  better.

I only used the Vampire in my builds as they represented great sound at reasonable cost. 

Vampire is out of business, and the PCX stock is, AFAIK, the very last of it.

Neutrik makes very affordable XLR’s with silver contacts, and I use them exclusively. Now that I’ve simplified my gear though I only have 2 analog line level connections:

• XLR cables between my DAC and integrated.
• RCA cables between the AVR and the integrated for which I use Eichmann bullets for.

Wow! Just looked.  Interesting.  The DH Labs is the same part based on my use of them when Vampire was out of stock. They are equally good. PC has far too many out of stocks.  

A note on heatshrink.  Not all heat shrink are created equally.  I have used some pretty horrible heatshrink that wrinkles and kinks when shrunk.  The end result looks like absolutely crap.  The Polyolefin 3:1 heatshrink from Sonic Craft is really nice.  I'm sure many other places have good heatshrink.

The heavy duty adhesive lined heatshrink can be used, but keep in mind that if you ever want to remove those banana plugs, the adhesive lined heatshrink is going to be a pain to remove and it's going to leave a glue film on the metal/cable.  For instances where I want a heavier duty heatshrink, I just use two heatshrink tubes to provide a double-wall (one on top of the other).

Good point on Sonic Craft! Great source.

I use a heat gun to remove the adhesive lined heat shrink pretty easily with no mess. Cut a slit being careful not to gouge the connector barrel and then apply heat. The shrink separates and pulls away. Let it cool a little, then pull the rest off with minimal residue. Sometimes none!