Cryo treated wires?


What difference does it make? Has anyone compared the before and after result?
rainchild
Ohlala: I think that if you follow my suggestion, for $75 you will definitely be able to draw a conclusion with respect to cryo, at least what it is capable of doing to outlets. Buy a stock Hubbell 5362 (a very good sounding receptacle) which will cost you about $15 and at the same time order a cryoed 5362 from Alan Kafton at Audioexcellence for $60. Put the stock receptacle into your system-ideally with a component plugged directly into it (either amplification or digital) and run it for 3 or 4 weeks so that it is completely run in. Then remove it and replace it with the cryoed receptacle, which ideally you would have installed somewhere else to burn in for the same time period. If you can't hear a difference, you're out $75.
I would bet that you'll probably be buying more cryoed receptacles. Either way, you're going to draw a conclusion.
I did an A/B test with cryo treated cables. My buddy and I both had Audio Quest Anaconda interconnects that we purchased at the same time. They were both well broken in with a couple hundred hours of use when we did the first test. We confirmed that we could hear no difference between his cable or my cable when we inserted them in his system.

I sent my cable to Jena Labs to have it cryo treated and played it for about 15 hours before going back to my friend's house for the test. While I thought I could hear improvements in my system, I was only going by memory, so the only valid test was to take my cable back to his system which we used as the constant.

We both thought the difference in sound quality was significant and easily heard. The Cyro'd cable now sounded considerably different than our non-cryo'd cable. It's musical presentation had more "weight' and seemed more natural sounding. There was also a reduction in brightness. The music sounded more coherent and dynamic. We concluded that with this cable and in this application, there was no downside- everything just sounded better.

Based on this, I later had a FIM outlet cryo treated with similar good results. Prior to cryo treating, it sounded very bright, but afterwards it was much better. I recently re-wired my amp with Jena Labs Ultra Wire (also cryo treated), and while I can't say how much of the improvement was due to the cryo'ing, the net effect was huge- the best money I've ever spent in this hobby. So based on my first A/B test with the identical cables, I'm certain the benefits are real. The other two experiences would seem to bear out the benefits in other applications as well, but were not a rigorous test.

BTW, I was extremely nervous about having a set of interconnects cryo treated, but they were returned in perfect conditon, and remain so 9 months later.
So cryo does change things in one way or another. I perceived it does carry it's own sonic character. Or should I say it brings out the true sonic character of that particular item. If the latter is right, them how about let say cable with a bright and forward nature? wouldn't it be worst after treatment?
Another question arises. What if 2 different cables were cryoed? Will they sound indentical in sonic character after that?
Good suggestion, Hdm. I am not sure how cryo, that particular outlet and my system will react together. I live in an apartment and my audio interest is waning, so I may never know :) In a high resolution system, I am sure the differece would be obvious, and if the system was managed well enough, the effect of cryo would be benefitial. Albert has practically everything but his chassis screws cryoed and it is not possible to believe he would still hold an interest in cryo if it did not benefit his system.

"What if 2 different cables were cryoed? Will they sound indentical in sonic character after that?"
My argument from a different direction - no.