Are silver cables on the way out?

Tim; well said, I agree. You might want to check my thread on the FIM 880 outlet (It's still on the front page). I wrote a review that pretty much compared a good copper AC outlet to a good Silver plated one. Cheers. Craig

I've gotten good results with Goertz Silver Saphire interconnects. My Nordost Quattrofils are, I think, silver over copper and are superb. But older models of silver cables sometimes sounded extremely un-natural, particularly in the treble.

Seems like there is a trend in this direction. I recently spoke with the chief engineer a Pure Note audio cables as to why they went from pure silver to their new bonded silver/copper. Basically he told me that no matter how well you make the silver there is still some hardness in the sound. I have to agree as I find the Pure Note Epsilon Reference warmer than other silver cables I have tried.

I've used many copper and silver speaker cables of the Audioquest line. And the ones with the most silver always sounded better. But, you can argue that it is the cable's geometery and insulation material that made the biggest difference.

Is it really a trend that silver is losing ground to copper? This is bad for Homegrown and Bearlabs. But this is good for bargain poachers who are going to buy up all the silver cables that the people who are hopping on the copper bandwagon are going to sell at used bargain prices.

Silver is a very revealing conductor and if properly used, yields the finest portrayal of sound I have heard. It does require a long period to settle in and using a break-in device greatly helps. If you want to hear deep into the material, my choice is silver. If your system is bright I suggest copper.