Would silver cables beat UP-OCC copper?

To reduce the variables I compared short segments of 12 awg Neotech OCC copper to dead soft three-nines fine silver from Rio Grande as jumpers in Merlin VSM speakers. No spades, solder, or twist geometries to influence the evaluation.

For me high purity soft annealed silver wins decisively, and the recent decline in commodity pricing eases the pain. Consider experimenting with short segments of copper and silver in series with your speaker cables. At the line level I've had excellent results with DIY ICs made with Parts Connexion's Connex/DH Labs BL-Ag balanced silver bulk cable.

"For me high purity soft annealed silver wins decisively, and the recent decline in commodity pricing eases the pain. Consider experimenting with short segments of copper and silver in series with your speaker cables. At the line level I've had excellent results with DIY ICs made with Parts Connexion's Connex/DH Labs BL-Ag balanced silver bulk cable.

Dgarretson (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers | This Thread)"

How did you anneal the cables? Also, it seems like it is very popular to cryo cables. What made you do just the opposite?

Several OEMs and DIYers have shared that soft silver is important to avoid the etched or bright quality sometimes attributed to silver. Annealing may be more significant than diminishing returns of 5-7 nines purity.

The better factory sources offer fine silver across a range of hardnesses. "Dead soft" silver implies full annealing. I suppose one could repeat the annealing process for incremental benefits or to restore softness, since silver tends to harden as it is worked. For this reason it is advisable to avoid excessive bending and twisting of silver cables.

Cryo treatment has goals unrelated to softness. No contradiction doing both.

My aim is to not "tame" the system by making it "warmer" sounding. I don't like rolled off highs and a bloated lower midrange. I like transparency and detail with tight and deep bass. I just thought I'd clear the air regarding that notion. So, with that in mind, it sounds like I would prefer the silver, but I can't really say 100 percent.

12-04-14: Dave_72
So, with that in mind, it sounds like I would prefer the silver, but I can't really say 100 percent.

That is why performing your own listening tests is so critical. No one else can really tell you which flavor you would prefer.
Many will gladly tell you what works best for them, but in this hobby, what works for some, doesn't work for others. You pays your money, you takes your chances.