Gold Plated DIN Plugs on NAC 282 - Any Issues?
Posted by: ryder. on 10 November 2016
Will there be any issues if gold plated DIN plugs are on the inputs of the NAC 282?
Probably not; however, electrochemically, it's far from ideal. After a time you may get a degradation of the sound quality due to electrochemical corrosion.
If you have to use gold plated plugs, you probably should remove and reconnect them every 3 months or so.
It depends on the quality of the plating. You could check with the manufacturer.
"Among the plating materials gold has the highest standard electrode potential of 1.38 Volt [2] and is therefore the noble material used for plating with the highest corrosion resistance. A perfect coating with gold is not problematic regarding corrosion. Due to the high cost of material the plating of gold is often so thin that the final coating is not free of pores. These pores are the cause of corrosion of electrically conductive surfaces with protective coatings. Therefore one of the goals of the optimization of gold coating is minimization of both the number and the size of pores of gold coating with the thinnest possible plating."
John,
Assuming a good quality plug (hence good plating), it's not an issue with the plug but the socket. The gold sets up an electrochemical cell with the nickel plating on the socket contacts. This slowly degrades the contact on the socket side.
A further complication arises in that DIN sockets are a high pressure wiping contact; after several insertion cycles this mechanically wears away the (relatively soft) gold plating on the pins to a significant degree.
The general guidance is to try to use like with like when it comes to metals, gold with gold, nickel with nickel, silver with silver etc. The corrosion potential with dissimilar metals is greatest in damp/humid conditions, where you might not want to use your expensive electronics, however unless the location has abnormally dry air there is always some humidity in the air and potential for deterioration, albeit that it can be very slow.