One thing that should be avoided where possible is having dissimilar materials on connectors that are mated together. A lot of sources indicate that, for example, mating a nickel-plated jack with a gold-plated plug can hasten corrosion, due to electrolytic-type processes. I have no way of knowing how true that may be, but intuitively it seems to make some sense.
Gold is the connector material of choice in aerospace and other applications where long-term reliability is essential, and difficult environments can be expected. The reason for that, as was mentioned, is immunity to oxidation.
Silver can tarnish, as everyone probably realizes.
Although nickel has only 25% of the conductivity of pure copper, as Rodman's reference indicates, that in itself is not likely to be significant in a connector, where the length and resistance are negligible electrically. That is particularly so in the case of a line-level rca connection (as opposed to a speaker connection), due to the relatively high impedance levels of the circuits that are being connected.
As far as the different metals having identifiable sonic characteristics, I would say, particularly in the case of connectors, that it falls into the area of differences that are unexplainable and unverifiable, other than anecdotally.
Regards,
-- Al
Gold is the connector material of choice in aerospace and other applications where long-term reliability is essential, and difficult environments can be expected. The reason for that, as was mentioned, is immunity to oxidation.
Silver can tarnish, as everyone probably realizes.
Although nickel has only 25% of the conductivity of pure copper, as Rodman's reference indicates, that in itself is not likely to be significant in a connector, where the length and resistance are negligible electrically. That is particularly so in the case of a line-level rca connection (as opposed to a speaker connection), due to the relatively high impedance levels of the circuits that are being connected.
As far as the different metals having identifiable sonic characteristics, I would say, particularly in the case of connectors, that it falls into the area of differences that are unexplainable and unverifiable, other than anecdotally.
Regards,
-- Al