Let's talk about Silver...

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. 

Strikingly many anecdotal accounts of silver plated copper conductors begin with, "At first ...," across various brands and types of cables. This implies the combination of these metals at first gives an impression of increased resolution, which is later concluded to be distortion of some type. Conversely, tin plated copper is another matter entirely that is much appreciated by many (myself included).

It is often said that "silver sounds bright," but this begs the question as to if the metallurgy itself is a driving variable (purity claims should be regarded with suspicion), or if this is at least partly due to differences in cable construction given the typically small diameter of silver cable conductors as compared to copper.

It would be interesting to conduct a blind test among a group of listeners using cables of otherwise identical construction aside from the conductor (and perhaps connector) metallurgy and determine if each can be reliably and repeatedly identified.