Gold often is softer than silver. Gold plugs tend to degrade very fast in my experience. I would go for platinum;).
To the cable non-believers: take a listen. In fact even power cables can make a lot of difference. Goodolcheez: I use some QED silver coated copper cables and they suck. Copper cables often have a bit of woolyness in the upper-bass but silver cables can be very analytic.








