Linn silver interconnect

[Kalle05]

What kind of improvements can i get if i use Linn silver rca cables instead of Linn black rca ?
Is there musical improvements or is it more in the detail improvement ?

[sktn77a]

I've never tried the Linn Black interconnects but I do have the Silvers. Most folks think highly of the silvers (especially Frederick, of this forum).

[donuk]

To be honest, the only way to solve this dilemma is to borrow some silvers and try them.

In my experience, on various systems, I have much preferred the silvers. I think most people do, although I have seen it argued that blacks are better!

To my ears, silvers convey a little bit more detail, which by some people called be called brightness.

Just my views and my ears of course.

Donuk, York

[tpetsch]

The first time I saw the Linn Silver interconnects was packaged along with a CD12, generally speaking if your connecting something digital to a Pre it's worth trying and I personally wouldn't use Silvers from Pre to Amp if I had an Analog source in the system. If the system is Digital with no Analog sources then the Silvers are probably fine.

If I'm connecting to an Analog source or to a standalone Phono Pre I'd use Blacks from Phono Pre to Pre, I've personally never preferred the Silvers in this type of situation as they always seemed to effect the tune in a negative way for me. But saying that it seems that as far as Lejonklou gear is concerned Silvers mat be part of a complete design from the beginning so the only way you'll really know is to try a set for a few weeks and then go back to the Blacks again and come to a conclusion.

[Spannko]

David Neel and myself spent an afternoon comparing Black’s and Silver’s against some very expensive interconnects made by a highly regarded hifi manufacturer. Whilst the expensive cables had some interesting audiophile qualities, in terms of pure musicality, both of the Linn’s were vastly superior. Comparing the two Linn’s however, proved to be a little more difficult. Going through the cables in pairs produced conflicting results, with both of us agreeing on what we were hearing. Thomas OK mentioned going through his Silvers by just listening to one of the pair at a time, so we agreed to do the same. Now we were getting consistent results, with most of the Silver’s being more musical than all of the Black’s and the remainder of the Silver’s being less musical. These findings were consistent and repeatable. Our conclusion was that “good” Silver’s are better than good Black’s which are better than poor Silver’s. From memory, the not so good Silver’s had a barely noticeable difference in their look. Were they dealer made? We weren’t sure. Another poorly performing Silver had a dry joint. Later, I discovered that one of my Silver’s had a dry joint too. I have a feeling that the Silver plugs are particularly difficult to solder correctly, whereas the Black’s are very easy. This possibly leads to Silver’s being a bit variable in their performance.

To answer your question Kalle05, good Silver’s have better sound and musicality, but as donuk (Edit: and tpetsch) suggests, you need to listen to them to make sure you’ve got a good pair.

PS After reading tpetsch’s post, it’s worth mentioning that our tests were conducted with all Lejonklou components

[tpetsch]

Good point Spannko, a lazy, dry, or cold solder job and all bets are off ...I'm currently collecting these specific vintage 5 pin to RCA interconnects from Chord Co. because their magic for Analog in my system. I'm told by a friend of mine that these specific interconnects are just pre-Lavender with an additional outer jacket over Naims/Chords basic grey 5 core cable at the time but there's definitely something more to these -and I've tried many different Chord Co. Cables over the years- and I can only conclude that the build/solder job details and specific temp control combinations on these were just a happy accident that I haven't heard repeated by any of the factory greys of any hue.