Are silver coated cables a bunch of hype?


I'm looking to upgrade some cables (digital coax/comp. video), and I've seen recomendations re: Canare. Originally I looked into a few silver coated copper cables. I spoke to a tech at Canare cable and he said none of their cables are silver coated, and that silver made no difference when it came to signal transfer. Is a good quality copper cable as good or better than a silver coated cable? Does the silver coated copper have a cheaper copper grade/purity to cut cost when adding silver? Thank You, Chrisrn.
chrisrn
Brucejel, It is my understanding that the Pro Silway II uses both copper and silver conductors instead of the silver over copper stuff. I use them myself and really enjoy their sound.
Also, has anyone ever looked up how much better silver conducts over copper? I think it is extremely small. I do know the resistance of copper vs. silver wire is extrememly small. I think i read somewhere the capacitance is the big thing.
To me, silver over copper has always sounded harsh. Of course, I have certainly not listened to all of these cables.
Topheavy, apparently you are unaware of the phenomenon of "skin effect" and therefore think that everyone else is ignorant about it. Perhaps if you studied it, as I have, you would be aware of it, and wouldn't make statements like you just have here. Not only do the frequencies "know where to travel", there is published data in engineering manuals that specifically quantify the depth of the "skin effect" in different conductive materials. In copper, it is approximately .4mm. So, yes, the frequencies do "know where to travel" and it is measureable and documented. Cable makers are aware of this and generally make their cables to minimize this effect. It is also well known that silver is a better conductor than copper(documented) and a silver coating on wire will enhance travel on the skin of the wire. Draw your own conclusion. I have done listening tests on my own equipment and others', and my listening results are in accordance with the scientific data.

You must think that audiophiles are a bunch of fools to make blanket statements like you do. Of course, you are a newbie here, so we expect you will learn something after a while. I don't take too kindly to attacks from newbies, who are ignorant and agressive. If you want to get a less pointed response from me, then engage me in a civil manner.

Albert, I didn't know that Dominus was silver plated. I have never heard Dominus, and I would expect it to be a great sounding wire. What they are doing with the plating and other possible design characteristics to "balance" the sonic signature, I don't know. I do know that if the individual conductors' cross sections are sufficiently small(below the nominal skin-effect depth), the wire behaves as all skin-effect, so the coherence phenomenon is mitigated with that type of construction.
Not hype. Try the DH Labs cables (www.silversonic.com), they flat work, an all around good cable worth their weight in gold, er, silver. There seems to be lots of criticism from folks that have never tried them or any such cables, but I really feel they are worth a try, they displaced many popular cables in my system from Analysis Plus, Audioquest, Kimber and Canare. You can get them dirt cheap (relatively speaking) and they are easy to resell if you don't like them....
TWL, your comments about cross section of wire and skin effect may explain something I had not previously considered.

Dominus conductor is multi stranded and TINY. When the Teflon jacket is stripped away, the strands seem inseparably bound together, until the nudge of a fingertip spreads them. Only then it is obvious they are instead a very soft and tightly bound bundle.

The construction obviously has a bearing on sound, combined with the fact these conductors are then housed in hollow tubes and suspended in a soup of chemicals and water. Certainly a departure from all the other high end cable designs.
I have used pure silver solid conductor AudioTruth LapisX3 interconnects for my tubed poweramp driving Dynaudio A72 speakers. Both low and high extensions gone missing.