Unplated copper spades/banana

@megabyte - I agree with your post but would add that in my world bare copper is fine too as long as you clean it occasionally.

@logistics 

There are bigger fish to try, such as upgrading to better quality electronic components within your current equipment.

Absolutely, but if you read these forums, you will find that audiophiles fry very small fish quite frequently.

@tommyu - I have seen that info from Furutech and even though they offer unplated options for AC plugs, and  IEC connectors, it seems their preference is for plating, and they seem to like rhodium over gold for durability reasons.  They indicate that erosion and gold dust build-up occurs over time with gold-plated connectors, which must be rectified by occasionally disconnecting/reconnecting the connections.  Oddly, they don't mention cleaning them.  They do address perceived sonic differences between gold and rhodium.  I have used their gold-plated connectors for years with no issues.

Cardas also appears to prefer a silver/rhodium plating and seems to have stopped making their gold-plated and bare copper GRS U Spades (at least I cannot find them on their website).

@mitch2 

Not sure about the spades.. mostly had Gold or Rhodium over the years but on wall receptacles I use the Furutech Cu, I have 3 Furutech NCF outlets in my power strip and rhodium NCF plugs on 3 of the 4 power cords I have..

But if I run the Furutech NCF at the wall feeding the whole system it's too much of a good thing the tonal balance gets ever so slightly white or grey sounding and not as natural as the copper feeding the whole system.

It's a definite balancing act and every system is different and all the platings have a different flavor. you don't know till you try.

Gold doesn't do anything but slow down corrosion vs. copper, so unless you're putting them outside in the wet Florida air for a few years, there's no point in spending more.

I would suggest getting gold plated cable and gold plated connectors. Sounds best!

I am an owner of a cable company that has done much research into different platings of different audio connectors.  We have evaluated copper, silver, gold, and rhodium.  The subjective listening tests were conducted with multiple participants on multiple, yet distinct, systems costing $150k+ each.  A double-blind methodology was used on cables identical except for the plating used.  We used scorecards collected and discussed only after the experiment.  Surprisingly, all of the participants' notes tracked the same between one another.

We all heard that, yes, there is a difference in the sonic presentation between the different platings.  After a while, we were even able to blindly guess the plating used just by listening once we understood the differences.

BUT, was it a night and day difference?  No, it was not.  We found that the test cables all sounded basically the same with only subtle, sometimes very subtle, changes to the presentation.  Our specific impressions of the distinct platings were very similar to the Furutech findings linked in a previous reply. 

Please do not confuse the conductivity of a particular material with musicality.  Measurements are all well and good and do lead to better engineered products.  However, we all listen with our ears and not with an oscilloscope plugged straight into our brain, so our ears should always be the final judge in ANY audio product.

Happy listening!