I know this is an old and settled debate but bear with me. I need to make a bunch of analogue audio cables using Neutrik connectors. Gold offers better corrosion resistance but is soft and wears quickly, so the general rule is to use gold-plated connectors for permanent connections and nickel-plated for stuff you plug and unplug frequently. The thing is, the analogue I/O on my RME UFX is all nickel-plated TRS jacks, so I don't see how using gold-plated plugs would in any way prevent corrosion in the UFX jacks, in fact, mixing metals might actually induce galvanic corrosion. Would like to know your thoughts on the matter, thanks.
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Are gold-plated TRS plugs a waste of money if...
- Thread starter Scoox
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Jack Plugs – The Gold, the Brass and the Cheap - Effectrode
www.effectrode.com
I don't think I've seen rhodium plating on TRS plugs, but that might be a good option either way if they are available.
- Thread Starter
- #4
As far as I know, most pros don't use gold. But, I never worked in "high-end" pro audio.
I'm semi-pro, and I bought into the whole gold-plated thing the last time I needed to buy cables, but now I'm questioning my former thinking because RME makes professional gear and they consistently use nickel-plated connectors even in their flagship audio interfaces. If RME, one of the world's leading audio interface makers, judges nickel-plated connectors to be adequate for analogue I/O, surely they really are adequate.
MakeMineVinyl
Major Contributor
What you're doing makes sense. When I've gone to studio supply stores they usually sell both, and I've just grabbed whatever was easiest. I would stick with name brands like Neutrik as the cheap stuff can be really bad.
- Thread Starter
- #6
Yeah all my cables use Neutrik connectors, so I guess I'll just get the nickel-plated ones this time. The only ones I might get gold-plated are the XLR ones for AES/EBU cables, only because the the corresponding connectors in the UFX and my Genelec monitors are gold-plated.
Gold will not react with other metals to any significant degree (effectively "none") so you don't need to worry about mixing metals. Nickel is harder and I would just stick with that. As you say, gold is nice for the "plug once" scenario, but the plating is so thin on most plugs and jacks that it wears quickly with repeated insertion-removal cycles. Then you are contacting to whatever base metal is under the gold -- usually nickel anyway for decent connectors. IME/IMO for consumer applications in the home gold is all about the look and not any real advantage in performance or longevity. - Don
