>> > Monster "gold plated" optical S/PDIF cables.<br
/>>><br />>> Yeah - gold plating digital cables is the peak of
brilliance*.<br />> <br />> Well, maybe not.<br />> <br />> As
noted, the issue with gold-plated connectors is that they're more<br
/>> likely to resist corrosion -- and lots of home-theatre installs are
put<br />> in and never touched. So whether the signal is digital or
analog isn't<br />> as important.<br /><br />I might jump at that if we
were talking about digital coax... For optical, however, corrosion is a
non-issue. I doubt my toslink cables (which seem to be made from
fiber optic, plastic, and a plastic rubbery coating) will do any worse
than something gold plated.<br /><br />On the other hand, the gold plated
ones would probably cause me all kinds of headaches: I'm married.
;)<br /><br />I wonder if anodized aluminum would be better as corrosion
resistance than gold. (I forget if that process messes with the
conductivity of the metal.)<br /><br />