Are silver cables on the way out?

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.

I have gotton very good results with Bear Lab Silver Lightning and Granite Audio #470 Silver interconnects (the cables sound correct to me, not bright). As technology improves it's possible that other companies will improve upon their product as Sonic_genius states. In some cases such as the Pure Note Epsilon Reference Series I find their interconnect and speaker cable to be an improvement.

I think there needs to be some distinction made between several variables we have here. First, silver and silver coated copper are very different. Next, solid core silver and stranded silver are also very different sounding. In addition the dielectric used, whether PTFE(teflon) or PE(polyethylene). Lets not forget simple geometry of the design with variables of capacitance, inductance, resistance, resonance, and other poorly understood variables. Some very popular speaker cables I have measured are the equivelant of putting a 400mic capacitor across the speaker leads. This will change the sound. Is it accurate?....I doubt it. Back to the topic. Silver has come and gone as the tastes of audiophiles change. Me, I use only silver interconnects stranded and solid core , and stranded silver speaker cables. They must match your system, and sound best with analog in my system. They bring the worst out in digital unless you have very top flight digital. With analog, they are warm, detailed, delicate, and sound like real music. When I hear copper that sounds like this, I will switch. Silver, unfortunately is not cheap. If I could buy silver at copper prices, I would. Jallen