For me rhodium does not push things like pure copper or does not mellow things like gold and has speed like silver. It is more durable but takes long time to break in.
+1 The base material is very important.
Rhodium...hmmm
I recently purchased pc for cd player with rhodium ends on both...I wasnt feeling the mojo from it and was not content with lowend resolution/grunt.I switched ac/male end with nice furutech copper and it has made the difference...Im surprised at the difference that it has made.Bass has more info/definition/warmth and high end still has sparkle with the neutral transparency that rhodium (iec) seems to offer.I know this has been talked about alot and probably deserves a duh!.. Rhodium indeed has its place in my system after all this time.Like it.