Connector Materials

[TJ_Kat]

I've been looking around at cables and jacks, and most advertize that their connectors are plated with such-and-such a metal. Now from my computer geek school days, I know that 24k gold is pretty much the best material available for making a contact connection.

However, I'm wondering about other metals, most specifically right now, rhodium. I've seen quite a few rhodium plated connections, and I was wondering how good the connection was relative to gold or copper plated stuff, or to straight nickle connections? How significantly do these different materials REALLY affect image/sound quality?

[NFG]

In my experience they don't affect the quality at all, however they DO affect the oxidization rates.  Gold doesn't oxidize like aluminum does, so a gold plated connector will remain useful for a lot longer.  It's especially a factor in Japan where the excessive humidity completely ruins connectors in a very short time.

[TJ_Kat]

It would appear that rhodium doesn't oxidize either until it's literally red hot. Not that oxidization would really be that big a problem around here considering how dry it is *twitch*. No, for me, the big concern when it comes to electronics is static.