There are no gold plated connectors in a typical studio (exceptions for amateur home studios purchased from Guitar Center). Most cabling in a studio is bulk co

There are no gold plated connectors in a typical studio (exceptions for amateur home studios purchased from Guitar Center). Most cabling in a studio is bulk copper wire from a giant spool, permanently soldered in place for reliability. The only plugging happens at dedicated patch panels, which in my experience are old repurposed analog telephone patch bays that look as old and corroded as they are. Gold connectors are for home enthusiasts with money to burn. The practical effect of the platings are so far below the noise floor (vs ground loops, EMF, amp noise) that it's irrelevant for audio work. I've never seen a gold-plated XLR cable, which is usually the first link in every studio recording chain.