Does it matter whether secured communication using symmetric/ pre-shared keys is happening over normal Socket or SSLSocket? How?

Question

If I am using any of the TLS_PSK_* cipher suites, then all I need to use some pre-shared key among client and server for encrypting and decrypting the message.

Would it matter whether I am sending the encrypted message over normal Socket or SSLSocket? How?

Answer 1

Although it is not impossible to create a secure connection yourself (which I presume you are hinting at) there are so many pitfalls that the answer is usually "yes". Use TLS if it is available, the newer the protocol & ciphersuite the better...