How Does Gold Wire Handle?

11-13-13: Jadem6
... gold is not as good a conductor as silver and copper, but conductance has little to do with the sonic result of the cable.

+1.

For line-level analog interconnect applications, differences in conductivity, and its reciprocal, resistance, are vastly too small in relation to the input impedance of the component that is being connected to have anything to do with whatever sonic differences may exist between cables made of the three materials.

Conductivity/resistance may of course have some significance in the case of speaker cables, depending on cable length, speaker impedance, criticality of woofer damping, and other factors.

Regards,
-- Al

Joe, thanks very much for your eloquently worded response. And best of luck on your project!

Best regards,
-- Al

11-14-13: Mceljo
Almarg - Good points. Any input on what sonic factors may be effected by the various materials?

I have no idea whatsoever :-)

I don't doubt that the different metals have a significant tendency towards having different sonic characters, to a greater or lesser degree depending on other aspects of the design of the particular cable, and on the characteristics of the components they are connecting. And considering the source, the rest of the paragraph from which the comment I previously seconded was taken strikes me as particularly credible:

11-13-13: Jadem6
... gold is not as good a conductor as silver and copper, but conductance has little to do with the sonic result of the cable. Gold is the richest, most dimensional sounding metal I have used. In the gauges that are being discussed here, the slow often syrupy sound often associated with gold will be alleviated. In fact these gauges will provide a fast, transparent bottom end without the fatigue you would get from silver.

But my feeling is that technical explanations that may be proffered for the sonic tendencies of the three metals will usually be highly speculative, and unprovable as a practical matter. There are too many variables that can affect cable performance other than the choice of what metal is used as the conductor, related to both the design of the cable and the characteristics of the components that are being connected. And explanations will almost inevitably not be amenable to QUANTITATIVE analysis, that can provide some perspective on the likelihood or lack thereof that a claimed effect is great enough to be audibly significant.

Best regards,
-- Al

Regarding the significance of how pin 1 is wired, I don't find it surprising that it can make a difference, although I would expect the magnitude and character of that difference to be dependent on the designs of the particular components that are involved.

Inter-chassis noise currents will inevitably flow through the pin 1 connection to some degree, due to ground loop and other effects. The magnitude and frequency characteristics of that noise will vary as a function of the resistance and inductance of the wiring that is connected between pin 1 of the two connectors. Depending on whether each of the two components connects pin 1 to its internal signal ground (which would be improper, but is often done nevertheless), or to chassis, or to chassis and then to signal ground through some impedance, some fraction of that noise current will inevitably find its way into audio circuitry, where it may intermodulate with or otherwise affect the audio signal.

Regards,
-- Al