Understanding cable conductor materials: OFC, OCC, monocrystal silver, litz
Audio cable conductors are differentiated by three things: the metal (copper, silver, gold-plated), the crystal structure (drawn polycrystalline vs Ohno Continuous Casting single-crystal), and the geometry (solid core vs stranded vs litz).
OFC vs OCC copper
OFC (oxygen-free copper, ASTM B49) is the baseline — multi-crystal copper with <10ppm oxygen, ~101% IACS conductivity. OCC (Ohno Continuous Casting) is single-crystal copper produced by heated-mold continuous casting; in headphone cable lengths the grain-boundary count drops from millions to a handful, which is what proponents argue improves transient response.
Silver-plated copper (SPC) and silver
Silver has ~106% IACS conductivity (vs 101% for copper). High-frequency current concentrates in the outer few microns (skin effect), so silver plating gives you most of silver's high-frequency advantage at copper's cost. Pure monocrystal silver is the highest-cost option, marketed for treble extension.
Litz braid
In a litz construction each thin strand is individually enamel-insulated, then twisted. This forces the current to be distributed across every strand equally, killing the skin effect within the audio band. Type-2 litz (groups twisted within bundles) is the headphone-cable standard.
What it actually affects
For typical 1–2m headphone cable runs at headphone-level impedances, conductor choice changes capacitance and resistance by single-digit percentages. Audible differences exist but are smaller than you would expect from the prices. The bigger gains come from connector quality, shielding effectiveness and termination integrity.