Oddly enough I've never seen a single measurement to back up any claim that there is any difference whatsoever.
Audio interconnects carry a line level signal at relatively low current levels... so their resistance itself really doesn't matter at all.
(If it did then a 22 gauge interconnect would sound better than a 24 gauge interconnect.)
Also note that, every time you go "up" one wire gauge, like from 22 to 20, you halve the resistance.
(And the numbers they're claiming for a difference are microscopic compared to that.)
And speaker cables carry much more current... but the signal levels involved are also much higher.
In fact, in those claims, they are NOT claiming that their wire is better because the overall resistance is lower...
What they're implying is that those crystal boundaries are somehow NONLINEAR in their resistance... and so cause some sort of noise or distortion.
The closest that claim comes to reality is that the bright green oxide you see when copper corrodes IS in fact electrically quite non-linear.
So, if you allow it to build up at a contact point, for example where a wire contacts a terminal, it CAN cause audible and measurable distortion.
(Look up "copper oxide rectifier"...)
However the traditional solution is simply to cut off the corroded portion, and re-strip the end, exposing a nice shiny new contact surface.
Or use steel wool to clean off the corrosion.
Or use gold plated contact pins or banana plugs... which don't corrode...
What they're SUGGESTING is that this "oxide effect" happens, albeit to a lesser degree, at the "boundary" of each crystal inside the wire...
And that the resulting non-linearity is somehow audible as noise or distortion...
(The idea is that each boundary then acts as a sort of "speed bump for electrons" which "makes them sound funny".)
However, if the crystal boundaries did in fact produce the effect they claim, it would be easy to measure and quantify...
However, to the best of my knowledge, nobody has EVER published ANY measurements to back up this claim in any way whatsoever...
I would expect to see a nice test report showing that signals sent through their wire actually have lower noise or distortion...
(Both of those are easy enough to measure... even at levels far below those that we would expect to be audible.)
However, as often happens with so-called "audiophile products"...
They jump right from "why it ought to be audible" to "how we can fix it"... for a price...
Skipping right past the part where they provide actual PROOF that their assertion is actually true.
(And, if that works for you, I have some magic powder which is absolutely positively guaranteed to keep invisible dragons out of your back yard.)
(And, if you like, I can include a five page explanation about why it must logically work exactly as I say it does.)
The marketing for this sort of product seems to invoke a combination of "placebo effect" and "the princess and the pea effect"...
If they convince you that there "ought to be" a difference (because "it makes sense that it should sound different"):
- maybe you'll imagine you hear a difference
- maybe you'll buy it because you believe some critic who swears that HE can hear the difference
- maybe you just won't want to admit to your friends, or even to yourself, that you don't hear a difference
- maybe you'll buy their "superior" product "just in case they're right"
(maybe if you listen carefully enough, or upgrade your other gear, you'll eventually hear a difference)
(or maybe you'll just get a sense of satisfaction knowing that you have a superior product)
However, in this case, all of the actual evidence suggests that they're pulling your leg (or your wallet).
On the bright side... I'm not aware of any reason why "single crystal copper" should in any way be worse...
(As long as you don't count the price.)
Adding more copper by increasing gauge unnecessarily would add more resistance for nothing since signal would have to travel thru more unnecessarily restrictive less pure copper.....
Just a fast thought after a few glass of wine.....
Anyway I don't think that adding 0.0000x % of purity in a +/- 4 to 6 foot length copper wire would change anything if sized properly from one to another.
But I could be wrong...My 2 cents at it.
Just a cup of coffee for me. Copper resistivity is inversely proportional to cross section. Bigger = lower resistance.
Just a fast thought after a few glass of wine.....
