Let's talk about Silver...

Such a humorous topic. By nature and in general, audiophiles are prone to mix and match with very little empirical data to go by. Brand A preamp may sound ok to your ears with Brand B amp and Brand C speakers. Then, there is a guy making speaker cables and interconnects in his garage in Spokane and we are absolutely convinced that they should work wonders in our systems. Let’s ignore the fact that the guy has a midfi setup in said garage and it sounds good to him.

Lets contrast that with a company like Shindo who had their own silver IC’s and speaker cables which sound glorious in a Shindo system while sounding equally marginal in another setup. How could that be? That’s why I chuckle when someone gives an absolute endorsement without ever experiencing the system in question.

Shindo spent alot of time experimenting and arrived at an optimal match. Kondo did. Audio UK did. I have all silver litz speaker cables and interconnects in one system and all copper litz in another system and both sound natural and right. I swear by these cables and interconnects in my system and yet, they would probably sound wrong in another setup. Bright and tipped up? Not even close…in my system. 

Pure silver signal cables are not bright. For example the most natural sounding IC's I ever heard were pure silver foil.

But silver plated copper cables give an artificial sense of detail. On mid-fi systems this seems to work well and can be positive upgrade. But once you get your system sorted to a transparent level, you can easily hear how un-natural silver plated copper cables are.

^ I agree. 

@ghasley

I’ve built my system in the same room for over 30 years now. I think I have a grasp of the difference products make in my space......if your post was directed at mine.

In my experience with my components I found all silver cables lighten the bass and brighten the treble. Presentation is still smooth but brightened. Soundstage slightly more open but overall there is a lessening of warmth. All copper has the exact opposite and can be too warm. I prefer silver clad copper and have had great success with cables from DH Labs. When trying their upgraded all silver I found them too thin and bright for my system.