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What is the difference of gold and nickel plated jacks when it comes to sound quality?

post #1 of 9
1/4/13 at 6:06am
Thread Starter 
I'm kind of wondering what's the difference when it comes to sound quality, does it affect the frequencies in music? Does it help prevent distortion? confused_face_2.gif
Does it even affect quality?
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post #2 of 9
1/4/13 at 6:54am

Gold is for corrosion resistance. Nickel corrodes over time which is why you get crackling on old plugs when you move them around. No other real benefit.
 

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post #3 of 9
1/8/13 at 3:10pm

Nickel corrosion resistance is highly dependent on how the Nickel is applied( eletro plate vs electrode-less).  Gold is soft and very corrosion resistance as well as being very conductive.

 

Strictly from a materials stand point Gold will be better. will you notice only your ears will tell you.

 

R-

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post #4 of 9
1/9/13 at 7:08am

Nickel plated connectors are a real pain to solder to.

You have to scrape off the nickel to get a good connection.

They're cheap and nasty, and cost less to produce.

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post #5 of 9
1/9/13 at 11:36pm

Gold plated because gold is inert, and doesn't corrode or form an oxide upon exposure to the environment/humidity etc.

 

No difference in sound.

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post #6 of 9
1/17/13 at 4:28am

my god. thought I'd open this thread to see some wonderous bs about gold being magically better than nickel, but I'm very pleasantly surprised to see sensible responses from people for once.
well done head-fi. some faith restored in audiophiles understanding metal and physics, rather than working on the idea of magic cables and interconnects.

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post #7 of 9
1/23/13 at 7:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PleasantNoise View Post

my god. thought I'd open this thread to see some wonderous bs about gold being magically better than nickel, but I'm very pleasantly surprised to see sensible responses from people for once.
well done head-fi. some faith restored in audiophiles understanding metal and physics, rather than working on the idea of magic cables and interconnects.


also gold is made from unicorn bones that is why lepricons and the Mayans covet so greatly. so yea magically delicious,and all of that attributes to its warmer sound.

 

R-

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post #8 of 9
1/24/13 at 3:31am
Thread Starter 
One more thing, how will I prevent the gold from fading? It seems to be fading after my headphones are used for some time.
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post #9 of 9
1/24/13 at 10:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dragonguy23 View Post

One more thing, how will I prevent the gold from fading? It seems to be fading after my headphones are used for some time.


I don't think there's any way around that, its a general wear and tear thing. Still, the lifetime of gold plated plugs is in years, so it shouldn't wear off that easily.

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