Another cable question

This could be helpful in general regarding silver cables in general:

I use pure Silver in all my system, including a couple of power cords. The result will greatly depend on the design of the cables. The experience I have with Dynamique Audio is excellent. I'm using their cables for the last 5 years and have been moving up in the chain to get to the Apex line. Their top cables are the "no cables". Their goal is to achieve the maximum in neutrality and tonal balance. What you'll hear is the result of your components sound signature only. You can find many great reviews online. Regarding digital cables. The Apex is out of your budget, but "The Cable Company" represents them in the US and they have the other cables as well. The BNC cable I traded in for the Apex digital is still listed in their used cables website and you could give it a try (https://www.usedcable.com/dynamique_audio.html).

Good luck with your search.

BTW, I forgot to mention.  Some believe silver can be harsh or brash.  I don't believe that.  a cable does not add things.  It takes things away from the signal.  So if someone replaces a cable with silver and the result is harsh, then their old cables suck and they aren't hearing the harshness that is in their system.  Fixing a harshness problem in your electronics with bad cables (called by all kinds of affectionate euphemisms) is moving in the wrong direction.  

@bikeboy52 , I ran a .5 meter silver RCA cable from my Bluesound Node to the Sony TA-ZH1ES Line In. I ran a 1 meter silver RCA cable from the Sony TA Pre Out to my Marantz 7702 processor. I then used a 1 meter silver power cord to plug in the Sony TA. All silver cables were from the same brand. I will be adding a silver USB digital IC very soon. I also have a Paradigm streamer plugged into the Sony TA with an optical digital cable. This is also a headphone amp and I'll be using silver cables for my headphones too.

Intuitively, everybody’s experiences are going to be entirely bespoke, ergo, one-size does NOT fit all.

Influencing factors listed from the CARDAS website:

It is said, wire is just wire. In reality, a high-end audio cable must balance resistance, capacitance, inductance, conductance, velocity of propagation, RF radiation and absorption, mechanical resonance, strand interaction, high filtering, reflections, electrical resonance, dissipation factors, envelope delay, phase distortion, harmonic distortion, structural return loss, corrosion, cross-talk, bridge-tap and the interaction of these and a hundred other things. As a high-end cable manufacturer, Cardas Audio strives to address every detail of cable and conductor construction, no matter how small...”

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

I upgraded from an all NORDOST FREY loom (flat, many/multiple very thin and narrow gauge silver coated ferrules design ) to comparatively thick, round, and heavy all CARDAS CLEAR all Cu loom.(Cardas’ cable design incorporates, Golden Ratio, Constant Q, Cross-Field, pure copper Litz, conductor technology.)

- That annoying digital “edge” and “brightness” was finally gone, with no loss in detail, along with a noticeable step-up in dynamics, presence, and slam.

The changes were in steps ( not en mass) …ICs first, then power , and finally speaker cables. The audio improvements were incremental in lockstep.

- your experience(s) will be ENTIRELY system dependent… full stop. The NORDOST array for me was fine,,,, the CARDAS array for me was better I’m no techno nerd to pontificate the techno detail why.

TAKEAWAY SUGGESTIONS

I would not parse out the potential effects of changing ICs ( pros and cons) independently from the effects of your speaker cables and your power cables. Audio performance changes ( pro and con) is determined by the SUM of the parts in the system linkage from cradle-to-grave…

its ENTIRELY system dependent that can only be assessed by hands-on experimentation. Roll up your sleeves . It’s a journey and not a destination approach.

3rd party Anecdotal posts herein are all independent comments only to be cautioned as such, and especially without any assurance that your experience will be comparable .

Happy New Year and happy hunting.