Since I am not archiving anything the gold discs, which are indeed expensive, seem overkill for what I do. Based on what I have read they can have problems equal to the regular CD-R's as far as write/read problems. However, it may be the case that discs that spendy may have a higher chance of being scrupulously made.
The Taiyo Yuden discs were considered top of the heap years ago, but the original factory quit making them and word is that the CMC version of these are not as well made. I have seen some original ones available from Japan on Ebay, but again very spendy.
It may be that I should stockpile discs I know to be ok while I can before CD-R's become a scarce commodity. It sounds like the archival quality may be the last to go since there are still entities such as governments that specify archival quality CD-R's for important data backup.