Analog Audio Cable Quality?

[nottinmatterz]

Hi, I have a question regarding audio cable quality.

I want to connect a 3.5mm headphone jack to some active speakers 1/4" unbalanced input

Would it be the better noticable quality to get gold plated cables?

In general, how much emphasis should be put on the cost and quality of analog audio cables?

I ask the second question because I have bought the cheapest priced adapters for various things like 1/4" mono to RCA, 3.5mm stereo to 3.5mm mono, etc. and I think some of these cheap ones I bought have problems with contacting correctly and get pops and fuzz, and have to twist or adjust them to contact correctly. I assume buying more expensive and thus most likely higher quality cables would be designed better RIGHT?

 

[j_garcia]

No, gold won't make any difference. Gold plating is mainly for corrosion resistance, not signal quality. If we are talking about the cheeeeeeapest bottom of the barrel connectors that are like less than $1 are probably going to fail sooner rather than later, then yes, I'd say something that is of average quality will probably be an improvement for the type of problem you are having. The chances are also good that the socket you are plugging into may have an issue as well.

 

[afterlife2]

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