Have You Tried Cabledyne Interconnects?

Jburidan:

I own a pair of $700 Cardas Golden Cross interconnects that use the same Cardas silver plated RCA plugs. So I don't believe it has anything to do with "cutting costs.

New kid on the block? Looks good for the money. As far as burn, 8 hours is nothing compared to 200 hours for most others. Still, I like around 100 hours to be sure.

Oh, but these are copper cables which really don't need much time, YMMV. I have had a few Audioquest coppers that sounded great out of the box. Silver is another story and IME can take up to 400 hours.

Might be worth a listen with a 30-day return? Happy listening!

Hell no, no affiliation with that company.

Cardas RCAs are all brass, no copper. Check out their site. I was able to scrape the edge of my RCAs (Golden Cross) and I see brass, not copper.

See:http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=oem&content_id=4&pagestring=Male+RCAs

Also:

"Q.) Why not use copper RCA plugs, as opposed to low conductivity brass with silver plating and rhodium flash?

A.) The reason for brass is simple, you must keep the connector as much like the conductor that feeds it as possible. In the case of our RCA connectors, low current high impedance transfers are best served by small conductors. Large cross-section conductors ring and are of no positive value. Our RCA's conductor is essentially a thin silver tube (the plating) protected with a Rhodium surface, the low conductivity brass is simply good structure. In the case of speaker spades we use thick, ultra pure copper with a silver/rhodium plate to suit the high current, low impedance application. - George "

http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=faqs&content_id=6&pagestring=Cable

Thanks Ed for confirming this. I prefer silver cables, in fact I have owned a few that used the Cardas plugs and they sounded perfect. Xhadows are even better.

Here are the facts from Cabledyne founder Ed Bowman:

Cabledyne states on their product pages: "Cryo 6-nines purity solid monocrystal square wire: Continuous Directional Solidification process (similar to OCC) offers incredible detail and clarity." The keyword is "Similar" to OCC.

Link and info from their supplier: http://hnyoukwire.en.alibaba.com/company_profile.html

"Henan Youk Electronic Materials Co., Ltd. is the largest electronic material enterprise in mainland China, based in Youk Engineering Research Center. We offer Copper Bonding Wires for Semiconductor Devices, High Purity Single Crystal Copper (4N-7N) bars / wires (0.1mm-10.0mm), High Purity Copper/Single Crystal Copper fine wires (0.015mm-0.10mm), Copper-Tin Alloy and Cu/Sn fine wires (0.020mm-0.1mm), High Purity Single Crystal Silver (4N-6N), High Purity Single Crystal Aluminum (4N-6N), Giant Magnetostrictive Materials (GMM), GMM devices, Electronic Cables and services. With a leading position in metal R&D and industrial applications, we have established business relationships with some famous companies all over the world.

Our company has an outstanding scientific team, international advanced production equipment and management experience. The technology of Youk products has reached the international advanced level. Three core technologies have been patented. Our company has passed ISO9001:2002, ISO14001:2002 and OHS18001:2002 certifications. Products also passed RoHS, MSDS, SGS, and other certifications.

Youk has the only Vacuum Melting and Inert Gas Protecting Continuous Unidirectional Solidification Equipment outputting 500,000kg/year in China. The Equipment can completely prevent the oxidation and secondary pollution of metal smelting. Precise control has ensured the stability of single crystal copper bars/wires. Due to the excellent research and advanced detection facilities, such as Element GD, TEM, EBSD and thermal analyzers, Youk can improve the performance of single crystal copper products continually."