Silver-plated or single metal IC's?

I have generally found that all-copper IC's sound very natural, with a laid back treble, whereas silver coated copper sound faster with a hotter treble. I did not expect that. I kind of figured that you could engineer any kind of sound with any kind of material - it all comes down to the measurable attributes (capacitance, inductance, resistance).

So I don't know if the issue is the material itself or the engineering decisions that tend to accompany certain materials.

I've also noticed that IC's with higher capacitance are more prone to round off the treble at longer lengths. Again, is this cause/effect or association, I don't know.

Of course, it may not matter whether it's cause/effect or not. The point is that you want to know what to buy for what kind of sound.

I do second the recommendation of the Cable Company's loaner program, with the one caveat that I've not worked with them for several years (I've been pretty happy, having settled on a mix of Audience, Nordost, Cardas, Goertz, and Monster).

Art

ps: I have found myself sometime initially enthralled with silver-plated IC's but over time preferring the (to me) more natural treble of copper. The one exception is Quattrofil where I have settled on using that as a primary IC, either preamp to amp or CDP to preamp. Again, I don't know if the issue is material or engineering that tends to accompany certain materials.

"Lean" or "accurate"?
"musical" or "colored"?

Davies Hall or Tanglewood?

Maybe it's personal taste but I had just about given up on live concert halls (such as Davies) until I tried Tanglewood last summer. I just sat there thinking "Wow, that sounds like music!)

So, is Tanglewood "colored"? I don't know. To me it's substantially more "real" than Davies Hall, but strictly speaking both offer live events.

Art