Anything wrong with non gold-plated?

[Mrvile]

I went to my local ratshack today to pick up a 1/4" plug to make a simple impedance cable for my rig. They were all out of the gold-plated ones so I just got a regular one...are there any real advantages to being gold-plated? The cable I'm making isn't high-end, it's just a basic headphone extension cord with some resistors in it.

Thanks.

 

[Pars]

Gold plating is there mainly for corrosion resistance. Nickel works just fine, and most of ratshack's gold plating isn't very good anyhow. Some people say they can hear differences in metal, and can tell that it is gold plated and even if it is gold over tin over brass or whatever. OK...

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

Corrosion. Might make a difference if you intend on keeping the plug for a decade or two. Besides, there are many high-end plugs that aren't gold-plated (rhodium, I think), so it's not absolutely essential.

 

[Mrvile]

Thanks guys.

 

[jpr703]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pars /img/forum/go_quote.gif Gold plating is there mainly for corrosion resistance. Nickel works just fine, and most of ratshack's gold plating isn't very good anyhow.

x2

 

[tourmaline]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pars /img/forum/go_quote.gif Gold plating is there mainly for corrosion resistance. Nickel works just fine, and most of ratshack's gold plating isn't very good anyhow. Some people say they can hear differences in metal, and can tell that it is gold plated and even if it is gold over tin over brass or whatever. OK...

yes, gold plating is there for corrosion but nickel is awefull for good signal transfers. Silver or rhodium is much, much better!

 

[Jahn]

i match like with like. if the plugs in my rig are gold, i'll want ICs with gold too so no mismatched crud happens. if it's nasty steel to begin with (like my marantz) it doesn't matter imho!

 

[applebook]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn /img/forum/go_quote.gif i match like with like. if the plugs in my rig are gold, i'll want ICs with gold too so no mismatched crud happens.

Totally agree. Pure copper or silver is the way to go.

 

[Mrvile]

Well, obviously the plugs that I have available (ratshack) are either nickel or nickel with gold plating, so technically it wouldn't really matter right?