My First DIY Power Cable

Rhodium connectors are one of the worst conductors, you might as well uses nickel.

Have you ever tried a rhodium plated connector?!?! (after 300 hour burn in, that is).  I do understand that rhodium is very low down on the list with regards to conductivity, but that is only part of the story.  You really need to listen to how rhodium plated elements sound.  In many many experiments, rhodium plated connectors is the only way to get the highest amount of resolution and transparency.  Gold plated connectors have a warmer sound and you lose high frequencies as well as deep tight bass.  Silver/silver-plated will be bright because they tend to push the upper mids, but they do not have very good ultra-high frequencies and the bass is typically weak.

One approach is to use silver/silver-plated wires with unplated or gold-plated connectors.  However, the best result is using pure copper conductors with rhodium plated connectors.

Sorry Erik, but I really wish you would stop banging on Furutech just because of their locking banana plugs.  I have used a large amount of other Furutech connectors of various types and they are all excellent.

My recommendation: Furutech FI-15(R) Plus rhodium connectors for both Male plug and IEC connector.

Then you can experiment with your choice of power cord.  If it were me, I would look for a used Audioquest NRG-2 or NRG-4 and then chop/strip the ends.  It's a little more work than a normal power cord.  A normal power cord may be easier to work with.

You can call it whatever you want "burn-in" / "break-in".  It all means the same thing.  Trying to talk down to someone because of your opinion on the "correct dictionary term" is not someone who I can respect. 

Additionally, rhodium can be the great revealer, in the sense that it is very revealing and will reveal the flaws you have in your electronics and cabling.  These are flaws that gold-plating or un-plated copper will NOT reveal because they are ultimately more forgiving.  If you are not liking the rhodium in your system, it is likely that a particular piece of equipment is causing that sonic signature.

Can a system sound good with gold or unplated copper?  Sure, absolutely.  But you are never going to get 100% full transparency, resolution and realism that you will with rhodium plated connectors.  I have been through all RMAF rooms and different systems from $10,000 on up to $200,000 and even the million dollar room.  Pretty much most of them use gold-plated connectors and silver-plated.  I will say that many (if not most) room did not hit the mark on a good high resolution real sounding system (even systems that were 6 figures). 

Choose whatever you want and whatever feels best to you. 

rhodium or Platinum are among the worst metals for plating based on conductivity

• any other type of plating will degrade performance

Making a decision on "sound" for rhodium based on conductivity is incorrect.  The "conductivity" of the metal really does not dictate how good it will sound.  You need to experiment within your system to decide if rhodium is good or not.  For those who have tried rhodium and disliked it, I believe it is from one of 3 reasons:

1. They did not take the time to fully burn in (or break in, whatever) the conductor.  Rhodium requires a good 300-350 hours to fully burn in.  There are stages during this process where it is extremely painful to listen to.  Just be patient.  Many have discarded rhodium because they were not patient enough for the full burn-in process.

2. If the rhodium completed burn in, it could be a synergy problem with other components in the system.  When a system is built a certain way, rhodium is the most transparent, revealing and realistic sounding result.  If you get a bright or harsh or sterile result, it is mostly due to synergy with another component.  Gold-plated conductors have a much warmer sound and can mask the "sterile" or "bright" character of some electronics.

3. The person just has a prejudice against rhodium because of the low conductivity.