Chinese OCC copper: fake or real? The SKW case 

ATTENTION: after further analysis with Waterloo University we have discovered that SKW cables are not made with OCC copper. All the details here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XVLR9EuCkgo.html

I’ve had some SKW in my system for a couple years now. I’m glad to hear you were proven correct!

Thanks for taking viewer questions seriously even those who doubt your judgements. That is real dedication and gives your channel more credibility then it already has - bravo -! 👍👍

I bought the SKW cables and I heard an improvement, I am very happy with them. Thanks for making this research, very useful.

I bought that SKW speaker cables and I love it. Like you said they are amazing. Better than my previous Kimber PR8 cables and thank you for the first video about that cables 👍👋

Your channel is fantastic. Don't listen to the haters. You are doing a completely unique thing in hifi on the internet. Favorite channel, hands down. Take care.

All my interconnect cables and speaker cables are the SKW model you are referencing. I’m very happy with them.

I bought the SKW cables after your video on them and I do not regret that purchase one little bit!

In my system, I have all SKW cables. My ears confirm what you are saying. They sound fantastic. I have no need to change to anything else. Give them a try, you won't be sorry.

Ha love it! Perfect timing as I just ordered SKW speaker cables. Thanks!

I have several speaker cables… some as high as $3.5K. I randomly saw SKW speaker cables on Amazon and bought them out of curiosity. I don’t care what they’re made of as long as it sounds good and the build is quality. Surprisingly sounds good on my Magnepan’s. For $150/pr… nice!

Hai, I bought SKW speaker cables some time ago after watching your video on RU-vid. I think they are great sounding cables. i did not dought the were pure OCC but now you have proven it. Thanks.

I bought a pair of Chinese OCC interconnects from China bay and they've worked out very well. In comparing them to Mogami 2549 OFC I'd say that the chinese OCC are at least as good if not better and that's without any burn in time. The jacket is two tone copper with black plugs that you turn to tighten. I bought these on your recommendation from a past video on the merits of OCC cabling. Thank you.

I bought these based on your recommendation. My 45 year old system is very happy with the quality.

I appreciate your effort to demonstrate an obvious truth! Congratulations...and you're right when you say...use your ears! That's all

Oh Yeah, Guido ! I am totally impressed with your response to them troll fools. Great patience and perseverance. "I hope now you finally believe me, If you don't, who cares". Bravo. This video is among your best yet. Congrats, well done.

I’m not sure if they sound any better than my old 12 gauge speaker cable, but the fit and finish is amazing, lots of termination options, and they’re damn pretty. Important for me was finding long lengths w termination

Also use the SKW cables, both interconnects and speaker, and am very pleased. As a matter of fact, I had Pangea phono cables and could not find the source of hum. Changed to the SKW and the hum went away. So the shielding is also of good or better quality. Kudos to you for researching the answer!

Good job. I love your channel. Can't wait to see your next one. Try not to let the barking dogs bother you much. I did appreciate the follow up on the SKS cables. Yeah, good work 👍

I run skw occ out of my DAC and CD player. Huge difference in detail. So much more crisp, deep bottomless bass, detailed highs, extended vocal clarity, more breath in vocals, more vibrato, more lively music, better attack on strikes, more detail on drum heads and percussive punch. Its just another level of detail.

I don't dispute SKW product quality, but I wanted to provide some insight from a materials engineering standpoint. It was good they provided the certifications to verify. Each lot of copper would have a certification with actual results. When looking at 6N's metals, typically the standard chemical analysis does not have good enough resolution to make the determination. The company would need to also perform GDMS to identify all the trace elements that add up in the PPM levels of high purity metals. The determination of single crystal would be different and would likely need a metallurgical cross section or SEM microscopy. Good work on getting the info.

After your videos on how to make your own cables, I got some Neotech UP-OCC silver cables. So....Ohno Continuous Copper Silver? Should it not be UP-OCS cable? By the way, they're great and I thank you for saving me a lot of money and teaching me a new skill set. Keep up the good work.

Thanks to your original video I got to know about OCC copper and got a pair of Zafvino nova OCC speaker cables and no, I don't hear any difference between them and my old good quality basic OFC cable but they sure are built to a very high standard and do look very nice with my Focals so I'm willing to pay a bit extra for some cable jewelry. I thank you sir.

I think that second paper applies to product range from BG-01 to BG-50. So it should also applied to cables you reviewed BG-05. BTW. I also bought SKW cables to test them after your review. Really good quality cables for good price.

Great video! (I always use either Furutech or Oyaide cables from reputable 100% *Officially Approved* dealers in Japan). Your videos are always really informative, objective & presented really well. Your ANA[DIA]LOG channel is always enjoyable. Thank-you, Guido-san - from G. in Japan (ex-Scotland) **(p.s. - Hope your new Ayon CD player is making your CD playback listening experience even better the more it 'runs in')**.

Hi I just want to thank you. Bought a pair of SKW OCC speaker cables. What a lift in clarity and a much kinder treble. This compared to my Van den Hull Claerwater. Best regards Claes

Enjoyed seeing you slightly agitated...you must calm down now though ..I am not a hater or critic .. I learnt a lot from you , nice to see you defend your opinion so gallantly , you are an educational and educated gentleman with nothing but kind intentions ...Bravo from cognac 🇫🇷

Great work. I appreciate it.

THANK YOU!!!

I have Oyaide OCC cables all over my system from power, XLR, Rca, and speakers cables, I tested with Audioquest OFC cables , OCC copper cables killed Audioquest cables, if you have very High end system you will hear the difference and if you don't ....dont worry about it.

Once again a great piece of hi-fi: useful, detailed and fun. Well done. A question: do you had the chance to test the SKW OCC interconnects? They are also interesting and at a excellent price

Thank you, Guido for all your investigative work on those cables. This will save us a lot of time and money!

I saw your video back when I was shopping for cables and interconnects. I took your advice and am very happy with SKW. They look and sound great. I am very happy with my set up. Ohm Walsh speakers rock BTW...

Thanks for confirming what my ears were telling me. My ears are the ultimate arbiter’s as you have suggested. Great comeback.

I had a SKW XLR interconnection cable, even not the top line of SKW but already sound very good. I would said it as good as my others few thousand USD cables

Can you please answer this question for me please? I want to buy these, but have an older amp that needs to use barewire. Can I take off the banana/shielding to use just the bare wire to insert into spring clips? I cant find the answer anywhere. Thanks!

bravo!!!!

Have you compared SKW speaker cables with the RAMM Audio DIY?

Hey, I am in Florence for the next six weeks. I’m wondering if you could recommend any good record stores or high-end, audio stores to check out. Grazie!

Can please tray an inexpensive mogami 3104 and let us know how will compare with the beauty occ ? Many thanks

I have a pair, and I found them exceptional. Highly Recommended.

Personally (as an electronic technician) i'm yet not sure about the whole cable sound thing. I jost got an SKW interconnect cable which i bought because it wasn't too expensive and looks well made. I can't say that i hear a difference tho (it connects my phono preamp and amplifier) But out of curiosity and the aesthetic appeal i just ordered a pair of the SKW speaker cables you recommended. If i will hear a difference, i will be happy.. if i will not hear a difference, at least i can say i've tried it. Probably will keep it anyway tho, because i always appreciate a well constructed and produced piece of equipment. So thanks for you're advice and research, much appreciated 👍🏻

Great video on trying to address the validity of their claims. I went on a bit of dive into AliX due to your SKW recommendation. Have you tried any Xangsane cables? Apparently they're another company dedicated to making high quality OCC cables like SKW. The bulk wire pricing is quite good and not dirt cheap with ridiculous claims like many other Ali sellers market.

Hello,I bought Thise skw speaker cables and cut them to se the inside and their are not the same indside as the pictures.I can not put a picture of them here☹️.Have you see the inside of them? I like your Chanel very much.👍

love your show! but i cant help but think its possible to have changed copper sourcing after the testing?wasnt this years ago? ill never know as this is way outta my budget. still great show man!

Tumb up! Thank you for the efforts taken! With more information, more people will safe buy chinese cables, which are obviously of improved quality. I’m ready to believe that almost all high purity copper is manufactured in China.

I don't see anying on how to test the actual cables, such as resistance measurements or an oscilloscope to verify the cable have not been substituted. How would you verify the SKW cables are genuine or reproduction without testing them.

Your occ copper speaker cable is fantastic and is it available in India. Please guide !!

I have come to alter my view on cables recently, and I no longer consider the purity or type of metal to be the most important factor to look out for. After trying a qed xt5 power cable, which is just oxygen free copper, but arranged to combat the proximity effect, and finally hearing recorded sound without the treble being unnaturally rolled off for the first time in my life (nor the bass unnaturally loud and muddy) and to my amazement, much better timing, I am now on a mission to remove all regular stranded cables from my setup. I'll probably have to make my own interconnects and speaker cables, to benefit from both a lack of proximity effect and occ silver, because such cables are not cheap to buy, if indeed you can find any, but I dont think it is worth having occ and cryo treatment and shielding and all the other things you could add, if the cable is just regular stranded and massively handicapped because of it

You Hi-Fi heroes are holding feet to fire, glad to see this kind of cooperation from corporate. Excellent

What about YARBO and RAMM, I don't see any certificates on their websites, are they OCC?

Hobbyist I’ve been using SKW for the last two years had it against ohiell and cables, diamond audio quest, everyone, Kimber, etc. etc. in Northwest etc. etc. and believe it or not this cable matches any one of those high end cables for a quarter of the price it’s a wonderfully put together cable I’ve been to China. I visited one of the facilities blow you away, and they manufacture many cables for OEMs that you’re not even aware of I know one I can’t mention the name, but it’s a high-end electronic company been in business for 50 years and they supply them. Example rotelle manufactures their own transformers, and they manufacture transformers for several leather large companies in the electronic consumer market, but this cable is for real and it works and I will save you a ton of money. thank you very much for doing your research and I am a customer of been a customer of this KW for years and it closes on sale occasionally on Amazon but the company is for real. Enjoy your music guys.

Funny, we’re in the process of making our own (Anadialog) cables and I wanted to try these cables. But cheap…. 155 euro for 1 meter. Still, I do want to try how it stacks up against my long time companion: the van den Hul D-352…

I have the SKW in both IC and for speakers. Tried out Tellurium expensive speaker cables. Costing three times av much. After trying the Tellurium for a while I got the SKW's. Right out of the box it was great. Much better than the Tellurium. Best buy for people with normal economy. Use Ansuz or Supra from Sweden for power cables.

I’m an audiophile myself (whatever that is) and I find the world of high end audio to be one of the most hypocritical bunches on the planet. Personally, I wish so much stuff wasn’t made in China, but that is the world we now live in. People will knock SKW cables, but on the other hand, they will praise AudioQuest with their mega dollar cables, which by the way, are made in…………..you got it, China. And, that is just a drop in the bucket example. Very good video. Thank you for sharing. Cheers, from Texas

sorry i bought this cables and sound bad in my system. moody and dry. sound stage was shrink. in the technical aspect they where very rigid and they almost broke my speaker terminal! then i change for van del hul cables. and wow night and day. i dont know what they put in there cables but its magic. very recommend and very flexible and special. if you can do a review of them it will be great !

I know they affect sound output and clearly have benefits over standard ofc. I can't say they are OCC. Crystal copper will make a difference. Look for OCC not ofc. This type of copper is going to give you a more robust full sound. I know it's true because I made output files and spectrograms and it is quite obvious that there is a difference. The benefit is no cutoff at the ceiling so extended peaks across entire spectrum. Another benefit is clear clean separation and higher saturation which pulls out many more details. Is it a dramatic difference? At low volume no, but at 75 DBs or more you can really hear a big difference in sound quality. Realistically the difference is on par with mp3 vs wave. In fact, the spectrograms are very similar. I've done a lot of work with spectrograms. Another cable I am looking to try are Gotham crystal copper. Gotham is used in a lot of recording studios and microphone cables.

Good for SKW, unfortunately I try not to buy anything manufactured in China. great vid as usual, thanks!

Hillbilly in China !! that was a hilarious juxtaposition !

I use there power cord which is excellent !!!!! Bravo 👏 👏 👏

Excellent , thanks , its a great follow up, ..food for thought the other company,s are re branding the china cables and selling at 1000 percent mark -up and we know the brands, better the devil you know:) thanks again sir

People have varying opinions on everything. I occasionaly get someone saying in the threads something to the effect that because their stereo costs many tens of thousands, that it would make a laugh of mine, and I never even say what my stereo is; on purpose . Quality of software used + quality of hardware + knowledge of setup and tweaking = how good your sound is. Cables are still a thing a lot of people don't buy into. People who don't believe there are quality differences between cables, all have one thing in common in my experience; they never have great sound. Not just because of the cables themselves, but because anyone who isn't perceptive enough to tell differences in cables, isn't going to be perceptive enough to pick out what is the best sounding equip One thing I would like to see is audio stores who carry cable brands where they have many different models, giving people an audition of their budget cable, then their next higher up cable in the line , then the next etc. etc. to demonstrate just what improvements and degrees of improvement you're getting as you go up the line in price. After that what would be even more interesting is going back down from the top model all the way down to the budget model again. Of course there would have to be 3 minute intermission in between each switching of the cables, to remove one and connect up the next one. I'm sure the expanding and then literal collapsing of the soundstage would be obvious enough to silence the most vocal doubters. I have some top of the line cables from the same company. One is their current top of the line which uses OCC copper and their former top of the line cable uses OFC. The OCC is cleaner and sweeter. The OFC is clearer a bit. Based on what I've experienced, the OCC can probably be expected to sound purer and cleaner, but don't expect all aspects of its sound to be better.

I have SKW cables inner connect speaker cables 100% factual. I’ve compared him to audio quest. You can’t hear a difference and audio quest is 10 times more money than SKWSKW copper is pristine crystal mines the only way you wanna look at copper and it’s a great product and a great price and a great great company that manufactures this.

Did you check this cables with some electronical engineer ?

If you want to know how much a difference it makes look at mp3 vs wav spectragrams because the graphic representation is very, very similar. So, in summary if you use ofc cable and i use occ its like you are listening to mp3's and i am listening to wave files. Can you hearvthat difference? If you cant dont worry about it. If you can hear the onvious differences in mp3 and wave music files then you should upgrade to occ cable.

Thanks, I expect no matter what you say there will be people who are going to say,No they’re fake. Just remember don’t feed the trolls.

THANKS GUIDO ,FOR SHARING YOUR THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCE…AND IMHHO what your 👂 hear IS what is important 🤗👍💚💚💚

About time people stop their disparaging expectations of Chinese products.

I even learned something: the meaning of 6N.

I brought a pair of SKW speaker cables £140 for the pair, I thought it was excellent value for money.

Good investigative video. Thanks for sharing. The idiom is “It’s not rocket science” not rock science btw. 😉

Purity is one thing while continuous casting single crystal is another. Where is the proof of the OCC process?

It’s very easy to get a certificate from china, simply direct buy from internet in China.

A Hillbilly in China… Ha ha ha ha, that's a good one Guido. Great researching! I think you've proved your point.

I bought a pair of these last year from Amazon. Needed some break in time, but provide smooth sound and clarity. Great for the money! I paid $400.00 for the pair.

I only use cables which are manufactured with rare earth metals. That ensures I have the highest quality audio coming from my 1930s gramophone.

Most people don't know the percentage of oxygen that is in the air they breathe, yet audiophiles fuss over .3 of a % of oxygen in a copper cable. Some people must be able to hear the termites in their walls at night

There is this cable in aliexpress? i'm living in Brasil and see your video and to me is better buy in chine than EUA or Europe!

OCC is a process for manufacturing wires which is distinct from the purity grade of the copper. You can get 6N copper in bars, sheets, pellets or wires. So, unfortunately the documents do not prove that it is OCC cast copper.

Cables have big impact on sound. I understand this 35 years ago and have tested and developed cables since then. I use Neotech OC silver, very good. I am in a process of making two power cables, one with 4 nines copper and one with Neotech OCC, same architecture. But it is also important to have the same material in the connectors as in the wires, preferably crimped.

Always the people that don't know what they are talking about/have zero experience with a product that are yelling "snake oil" the loudest.

SKW is not clear about its core thickness, that's not good. They claim that the copper is 6N OCC copper. Ataudio makes 7N OCC copper cables that are cheaper and have better connectors.

Their documentation agent is now a missing peron

The Truth will set you free.

ho comprato il cavo occ per diffusori dopo aver visto la tua recensione e li ho trovati ottimi. tiene presente che hanno sostituito degli oehlbach da 6mmq misto rame e argento che di listino costano circa il doppio... gli skw non mi hanno certo cambiato la vita ma le mie orecchie (come dici spesso tu) mi dicono che ora ascolto meglio. a breve proverò anche i loro rca sempre occ così sostituisco gli audioquest. a me i cavo scettici fanno fare sempre delle grosse risate...sono talmente idioti che non vale neanche la pena controbattere a quello che scrivono. lasciamoli pure alle piattine da elettricista che usano nei loro impianti, ognuno ascolta come crede.

Even if the copper was contaminated with all sorts of crap who cares? As long as it sounds good, that's what matters.

OCC or not. It doesn't matter. You can't hear the difference. So long as it sounds good, fine enough.

What you have here is a cut throat industry and representatives fighting to make this a myth so they can sell their copper cable. Clearly occ amd linear crystal copper of high purity has different physical properties that translate into obvious better performance that a speaker is capable of delivering.

I believe you but I´m not shure if you´re helping the case by showing this very vague documents..

So why does it matter if it sounds amazing and shows you don't need OCC cables haha

Pazzesco

I was hoping for an actual metallurgy analysis from a lab or something rather than a piece of paper. I take the piece of paper with a grain of salt as much as the cable especially coming out of China. My own experiences with Alibaba cables are they are a waste of money even though cheap as I would not use them after listening. I now come to the conclusion I will only buy big brands that can be trusted to provide what’s on the tin eg Chord. To save money, I wait for second hand items. On the other hand, Chinese hardware like amps etc can be trusted as hard to fake those and some companies like Cayin, SMSL, Topping etc have excellent reputation.

What that proves on your own cables? You can mesure copper conductivity on your own cables and take conclusions. If you think you have excellent results you do not have to prove anything, just enjoy.

Who's laughing now lol! I am laughing all the way to the bank with all the money I saved from.buying SKW Speaker cables and Interconnects......

It's funny how many western companies buy their products from China, then put a nice sleeve & terminations with their name on them & then add a few zeros to the price they paid for them. I'm only joking of course they make them all themselves, I heard 1 company makes their speaker cables from the mane of Pegasus. The sound from them is supposed to be truly heavenly, so I was told.

And don't forget who recomented these cable and they sound so good. LOL

Coming soon: The 12 inch single length version! 😂

You can not hear the difference, anyway.😮Makes no difference really. Why worry?

Are you Italian? Barely noticeable.

today many chinese products are better and cheaper than western overpriced