EggXpert

Ok so gold plated. Seems like a method used by a lot of junk companies and good companies, to make something better. But does it?

 

My first thoughts are: "You just added an additional layer of metal onto what ever it is I am using.. No matter how good that metal is. It just increased the resistance, thus Instant signal degradation. So in a sense that would mean that  if you had to choose between the same wire from the same company and one was gold plated, the none gold plated one was actually better.

 

My second thought it: "Gold is a better conductor then some metals and thus it will make better contact.. but that gold is just touching Copper or aluminum, so the great conductor is touching the bad conductor, thus we are met with the same result... a lower signal since the gold added increased resistance if it had not been there at all."

Now if it is Not gold plated, but  gold plug then that makes a but more sense, but Copper is a better conductor then gold so why not just stick with that.

 Now 1 direct benefit of gold plating is gold does not corrode, (at least not by anything it will ever come in contact with in most offices and homes.) So there is one benefit to gold plating.

a passing thought I had was that gold is maliable so maybe i make better contact since it can mold to what it touches, but that is only pure pure pure pure gold.. even if the gold is 99.99% pure it does not take on the "Play Doh" characteristics.

 If a wire is ALL gold, that would be better then all aluminum, but then it would be more expensive and perform worse then an aluminum capped copper wire. especially at long lengths.

So is Gold really Snake Oil?

Golds actually a far better conductor than Copper.

And don't forget that the golds not just "touching" it its actually "fused" to it through electrolysis, which intermixes them at the molecular level.

While the cheeper cables will have it fused in a cheeper way to cheeper cables you still get what you pay for. 

Personally in my experiences between the two, just get the best cables you can, as long as you have good QUALITY cables the plating makes no real world difference.

Snake Oil.

 

Gold is more conductive then copper silly me.

You know what in analog devices this might be important to an extent, but I think in digital it is 99% pointless... it's all 1's and 0's  10010010 sent over a copper wire vs a silver vs a gold wire is still the same 10010010 and thus the same EXACT picture and sound. Also if Parity bits are involved then signal loss does not matter much either. Digital is all or nothing. you either have the BEST possible picture or none at all.

and no matter how this discussion plays out I must keep one simple thing in mind. Even if there is some or many benefits to the $50, $100, or $300 wires. I am perfectly happy with my $4 wire, and in the end that's what counts. If someone prefers or needs that $100 wire then why should I care.

Snake oil. Buy your cables from sites like monoprice.com and don't get beaten by Best Buy and such.

The one real difference is gold's "nobility." (ooh. pardon me.)  Copper is a fabulous conductor, and silver even better.  But corrosion is thy contact's enemy, and a quality gold-plate is an excellent shield.

Amount of gold used for plating is microscopic.   The process is also cheap.   Tinned contacts are generally just as good, but gold plating retains better quality look.   Any kind of statement that a given cable is "triple plated in pure 28K gold using our magic superprocess" and because of that it costs $300 as opposed to $10 is BS.   Quality gold plating might add 5-10% to cable cost at most.

Well we're talking about bonding metals here at a molecular level; of course it's microscopic!

Sorry scorrpio. I just couldn't resist. You are absolutely right, of course, that tin works just as well.  But you said it yourself - where is the magic in that? 

Truly, by the time a tinned contact is worn out, the "gold" (or 2 carat alloy thereof) has worn completely away.  What remains as true, I suppose, is that it is good to have contacts with good conductance, some resistance to corrosion, and just a tich of malleability (and saying all that just now, it's hard to imagine anything much better than a good tin-formulation.  But gold's still prettier.)

The bottom line is that, for your conductor, copper is (speaking practically) as good as you'll get (gold? silver? Get real your highness.  But tin? Wouldn't have the durability - it doesn't form the durable, elongated crystals that drawn copper will).  As an alloy, copper may have the softness that you want (you want your points of contact to "become one," at least a little bit), but it's just too darned easy to oxidize.  So you coat it with something that's about as soft, promotes the free flow of electrons about as well, but turns up it's nose at oxygen a little bit better (the o2 will make it too hard and brittle to deform properly, and locks up the electrons so that they have to leap across, rather than flow through).  Beyond those realities (and built around them, I must sadly say), is a boatload of marketing bullcrap.

And thaths, the trutthhh.  (D'yall remember Edith Anne?  How do you suppose you spell what she said?  Hmm, question for a different forum, I suppose.)