Solid core OFC vs stranded OCC copper

I think the issue is a bit more complicated than just a generic difference between litz vs solid cables. I tried the Neotech OCC solid cables both copper and copper with silver and they sound terrible.

People praize the Audio Quest Thunderbird and William Tell. They also praize the Transparent Music Wave Ultra cables. But these are expensive.

I would like to find a speaker cable that sounds good and 3D without costing an arm and a leg. Whether it's solid or litz doesn't matter. 

Some years ago I did a comparison on DIY power cords using the following as internal wire:

- #1 - Using cheap crap Radio Shack 20 awg solid-core copper conductors with PVC insulation (multiple wires to make a 14 awg power cord).

- #2 - Using high grade Furutech 14awg STRANDED OCC Copper power cable.

Listening tests revealed that the Furutech OCC copper provided a much higher resolution sound.

The power cord using cheap Radio Shack solid-core conductors did not have good high frequency resolution and overall sound was not quite as crisp and clear....BUT .. the Radio Shack solid core just sounded so much more natural when compared to the Furutech stranded OCC. The Radio Shack solid core has better mid-bass and midrange body. The Furutech had that low-end "Hi-Fi" type of sound and just did not sound as natural or real. If these were my only choices, it would be the crap Radio Shack wire because it was just so much more pleasant and enjoyable to listen to.

noromance's comment stating "solid core is cleaner, less confused when music is busy, and yields blacker internote spaces" is definitely a characteristic here as well.

------------

When comparing OFC to OCC in general, the OFC wire can sometimes be a bit harsher sounding and there is definitely a loss of resolution with OFC. Think of OFC wire as 1000 male-to-female and female-to-male plug adapters between the source and target. An OCC wire would be like having 3-5 adapters between source and target. The loss and harshness from surface contact on 1000 connections is what you get with OFC.

------------

There are some comments on silver interconnects. I have gotten to the point where I don’t like silver or silver-plated conductors for anything relating to analog waveforms (i.e. power cord, interconnects, speaker cable). However, all of my components are all high-resolution revealing. A solid-core silver cable could do well if your components are on the warm side.

BUT, I have found that solid-core silver is absolutely excellent for digital cables (i.e. AES/EBU or HDMI or something). The copper digital cables are on the warm side and don’t have as much resolution. Though, it is a balancing act and system synergy definitely comes into play here.

"When comparing OFC to OCC in general, the OFC wire can sometimes be a bit harsher sounding and there is definitely a loss of resolution with OFC"

I concur this statement...after diy’ing a few ac/speaker cables.OFC has a little more "smack/but slight glare" to timber but tone is truer with OCC i feel...Auxinput has it right...synergy.

@auxinput - You really cannot attribute the difference in sound between the two cables to one being solid core and the other stranded when there was multiple other differences in design/configuration (e.g.multiple small conductors vs. one larger conductor, different grades of copper, likely different dielectrics).

I see a lot of audiophiles comparing two similar products that have multiple differences in design/configuration and then attributing whatever difference in sound they heard to whatever the specific attribute is the topic of the day.  I recognize that it's very difficult to make comparisons where only one factor has been changed, but we can't cherry pick one of the differences as the explanation for the overall difference.

Hi mceljo.  I respect your opinion, but I have done a significant amount of testing with so many different types of cable and wire over the years.   My statement stands after listening to all sorts of different configuration (like you say - multiple wires vs. single wire, etc.).   In some cases, the multiple wire scenarios actually did better with bass and open sounding highs.

My statements above were in direct response to the original post "solid-core OFC vs stranded OCC".