Copper, silver, or gold MC cartridge coils?

I had a gold wired cartridge, a Clearaudio DaVinci. I thought the Ortofon Windfeld Ti was a better cartridge. But I could not say it was because of the wire. Do the metals really sound different? They all work harden but I think copper does this easier than the others. I tried searching for the answer. This would mean copper wires that are being vibrated will break sooner. The other metals may be more durable. I have had two cartridges that fractured copper wires, a Denon D103 and a Sumiko Talisman S. They were decades old when they did it. Both with copper wires. 
There is a slight difference in conduction but will that effect AC at audio frequencies? I can't find that answer. The wire runs are not very long either. You would have to compare and measure three identical cartridges just with the different wires. To my knowledge nobody has ever done this.
Schroder offers his tonearms with either copper or silver wiring. I chose the copper. The tonearm wires are scary fine. They look like they would snap if you sneezed on them. 

The key is not the wire in the cartridge but how the cartridge reacts with your arm, table, and phono stage. You want to pick the best cartridge for your system and that can be a challenge but a big reward when the magic happens. You also want to play your choices for at least 6 album sides because low output moving coils take a long time to relax.

The closest I got to comparing coil materials in a more or less level playing field was hearing three different vdHul Colibri’s in the same arm (Reed 3P 12" Cocobolo) in immediate succession: XCP (copper coils, plastic body) XGW (gold coils, wood body) and XPW (platinum coils, wood body). As far as I know there never was a Colibri with silver coils.

In my system I had a clear preference for the platinum coil version (a limited series and no longer made). It struck a nice balance between the fast, dynamic, punchy sound of the copper version and the smoother, more refined presentation of the gold coils, while adding a superior 3D stage neither of the others could match.

Disclaimer: the Colibri as a breed are known to be temperamental and the word goes they all sound different. So a similar comparison with three different samples might yield a different outcome!

BTW: this comparison was done prior to the introduction of the current Stradivarius and Signature versions. These new systems may have very different characteristics and be more consistent than the previous series.

I have a Airy 3 Gold, silver base to mount, after my Airy 3 Silver, silver base, goes sour (which is soon, after 3 years of use).

Also have a Airy 3 copper, silver base that has 1.5 years of use.

I have two identical VPI JMW 10 arm wands on my TNT 3 that I use.

I will post my opinion later on the gold coil ZYX.

At some point early in the history of the ZYX Universe, which according to legend is a "special" model originally developed for USA distribution only, one or more reviewers opined that the copper coil/low output version of the UNIverse was the best sounding of the optional versions, which included, in addition to the copper/low output version, copper/high output, and silver coils with low or high output.  (Output is either 0.24mV or 0.48mV, depending on the choice of "low" or "high".)  That notion took root among audiophiles, and nearly everyone (including me) bought the copper/low output version.  I don't know the story that goes with all the later versions of the UNIverse, of which there are now too many to keep track of, at ever increasing price points. Other than that one instance, I never thought much about purchasing a cartridge based on the conductor used to wind the coils of a cartridge.  Like Raul says, it is the overall design that counts far more, in my opinion too.  This notion is supported by the fact that there are good and bad sounding cartridges with either copper or silver coil windings.  Gold is more rarely ever used, except by van den Hul and one other brand mentioned above.  I think in considering the "sound" of a gold coil, we have a difficult time divorcing ourselves from the subjective biases surrounding "gold". Gold "feels" warm and lush, just to use the word.


Koetsu "silver clad copper" is almost for sure not different from "silver-plated copper".  I have never liked the sound of ICs made from silver-plated copper, no matter how pure is the composition, because it sounds more bright and edgy to me in my systems than either pure copper or pure silver. On the other hand, Koetsu cartridges, even the ones with silver-plated copper coils, never sound bright and edgy, which brings me to the question: to what degree does the nature of the wire used to wind the coils in a cartridge or in a transformer affect the SQ of the output?  I doubt it is valid to think about that without reference to the physics of a coil of wire. For this I refer to Intactaudio's post above.  Dave knows more about the electronic behavior of a signal in a coil or transformer winding than any of the rest of us can even dream of. I wonder whether his remarks about the sound of copper, gold, silver pertain to wire in a coil or linear wire.  Maybe also Dave could comment on the physical state of the audio signal in a coil serving as part of a transducer, as in a cartridge or a SUT or an output transformer.  Folks pay big bucks for silver windings in a SUT or output transformer; are the results worth it?