Gold and gold plated cables (conductors question)?
Why is that despite both silver (resistivity 15.87 n Ω·m) and copper (16.78 nΩ·m) are better conductors than gold (22.14 n Ω·m) and at least copper is cheaper (I have read that ~pure silver is actually very hard to obtain, don’t know to what extent this applies in the modern world with technology though) it is gold the one that is used in expensive electronic, and people fall for it (e.g. HDMI cables, headphones mini jacks, USB cables, and cables in general, I’m not talking about circuitry)?
Good question!
The reason is oxidization. Of the four top conductors, in order of best first, are:
Silver
Copper
Gold
Aluminum
Of them, gold is the one that does not oxidize under most environmental conditions, the rest all get a layer of oxide that can impede current. Silver oxide is partly conductive but it looks bad (it is black) and it rubs off, potentially creating leakage pathways.
However, it is important that both sides of the connector use the same metal. Never use gold with nickel or tin plate, don’t mix silver with gold or nickel or tin plate.
Whether or not gold really conveys a visible/audible advantage is a source of contention. I don’t think it hurts, certainly the superthin layer doesn’t add much resistance versus using silver and is actually less than nickel or tin plate, but it would take some extraordinary test equipment to measure the difference.
Gold excels in light-force connections like those found in computers, and things like HDMI cables. For higher power such as speaker connectors, I would rely more on a screw down or spring loaded connector.
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