cryoed vs uncryoed wire A/B tests?

Gene reports that there are no differences in sound between cryoing raw wire vs the entire assembled cable. However, in my experience it does make a difference having the connectors (RCA, XLR, spades, etc) cryoed as well as the wire itself. I prefer having the entire assembled cable cryoed because the cryo treatment can also improve solder joints.

Just a question on this topic. I know many cable manufacturers cryo the raw wire before assembly while others cryo the entire cable, terminations and all, after assembly. Any thoughts?

francesco,
You may want to talk to Gene at Take Five Audio, who does all my cyro treatments. He has had years of experience with the cryo process. I agree with his conclusion. The better the quality of the wire the less effect the cryo treatment produces. However, I have treated very pure single crystal silver wire that already sounded excellent and still realized a noticable improvement in sound after cryoing.

Drt
this is really what i was looking for. If i may ask, what about pure silver wires, do you have any experience with those? i am thinking of processing some audio note AN SPa (pure silver litz wires), and i have read mixed report about pure silver cables cryo treated.

thxs alot for your (you all) help

francesco

Francesco,
Cryo treatment of wires do not fundamentally change the tonal quality of a wire. The treatment does not add things like brightness, glare or other coloration. However, because there is an increase in clearity and detail, removing a layer of veil from the sound, warm sounding wires will sound less warm and dark sounding wires will sound less dark. Different wires are effectly differently but in general the highend is most dramatically improved with midrange less so but still noticable. Bass is least improved, but in some wires still noticable.

I 'cryoed' my interconnects and speaker cables (Analysis Plus) in my home freezer (-30F)three times just to see what would happen - knowing full well that this is far above true cryoing temperatures. Nevertheless, there was a noticeable difference: greater clarity, detail,imaging, and it just sounded 'faster'; plus, about 2-3 Db greater sound volume at the same volume-dial setting (measured with a SPL meter). So, obviously something happened, and I found it pleasing.

For me, trying some tubes ( Svetlana el34 quads )that I have the same as uncryo'd.The cryo version seems to be more refined. No tone changes but the leading edges are more noticeable and all mids and high notes have more refinemnet..........

Drt thxs for your reply.
Drt would you say that the two cables have a different "tonal" presentation of the music? i mean i think extensive listening like yours is an excellent A/B testing method according to me. so i am very interested.

could you say more about the tonal balance, bass mid high frequency rendition. do the two cables seem different in any of these areas? darker sound? or anything...

thxs

francesco

I have a pair of VH Audio Pulsars. They came to me used and uncryo'd. The sound was very very clear and there was an incredible seperation between instruments but there was something not quite cohesive about the image. Some sounds were forward of the rest of the sound stage. It was an interesting effect but a little distracting. My GF was the blind evaluator and she heard the effect too compared to a couple other wires we have.

I sent them to be cryo'd. They returned and the image was as clear as before and there was plenty of space between the instruments but the overall presentation seemed to be more cohesive. Extension seemed about the same. The sounds that previously seemed too forward and out of place now are part of the image.

I have had many different wires cryoed as well as many audio connectors (RCA/XLR and binding posts). In my experience all wires as well as connectors I have cryoed so far have had some improvement but extent of improvement seems to vary from very small to very significant. Unplated wires and connectors show the greatest improvment and heavy silver plated wires show less improvment, with heavy gold plated connectors showing the least amount of improvement. The usual improvement is increase in detail, clarity and extension, openness with deeper soundstage.