From what I can recall, the reason gold plating is so common is because it protects the connector from wear and corrosion.
That’s right, but it’s mostly good for a more permanent connection. Like a patched music console. Fun fact. Chrome nickel ends for gigging musicians are typically better since they are constantly being plugged and unplugged. If you use gold ends on cables you’re constantly disconnecting and reconnecting you will just wear away the plating more quickly.
For audio these do make some sense… for any others like hdmi though…
Nope. There is no data to back that up.
analog audio, yes maybe. But not digital. Digital does not work like that.
You mean analog cables like those shown in the picture?
Only (consumer) digital audio cable i own is a usb headset and apparently gold plated usb is so stupid there not even trying to sell those.
I am not convinced that the meme author didn’t know what they where doing and this is ragebait though.
Gold protects from corrosion it makes equal sense on a 3.5mm caböe and an hdmi connector.
This is a bad example. Aux cables use analog signals therefore signal integrity actually matters for sound quality. If this was a cable used for digital signals like SPDIF of HDMI or USB then it wouldn’t effect quality; that being said using gold or another coating (someone mentioned chrome nickel) will help with reliability and corrosion over time.
It’s actually a good example. Putting aside corrosion, there is no difference in sound (that’s what the meme is about). Coming to corrosion: oxidation will increase the contact resistance which is not frequency dependent. So, at max, it will make the signal slightly smaller but not “worse”.
Actually, mixing gold-plated plugs and tinned receptacle contacts is even worse considering the mismatch in contact resistance
