Cryogenic Tubes - Time for a Change


Well it finally happened, one of my (four) EL34 tubes in my Willsenton R8 blew up last night. I knew it was coming. The bias meter had been telling me for about three weeks that this particular tube was loosing its mojo. Before you ask, yes I kept adjusting it's bias to match the others, it just wouldn't stay there for long.

Based on curiosity I just purchased (4) EL34 cryogenic tubes. They should be here by Friday.

I'm curious what folks (with actual direct experience, not your usual "everything new is snake oil" folks) think of cryogenic tubes in their systems?

 

The benefits listed are: 

Expanded dynamic range

Smoother and more refined high frequencies

Increased Bass depth, definition, and articulation

Deeper and more focused soundstage

Lower dynamic noise floor 

Reduced micro phonics

Smoother midrange 

Lower operating temperature and extended tube life 

 

Thanks for your feedback (pun intended) and Happy Listening .

 

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Four EL34's arrived on my doorstep yesterday morning. Christmas came early this year.

Based on many people's comments on this thread, describing their experience of cryogenic tubes as a waste of money, clever advertising, and providing no measurable improvement over their stock tubes, I was simply hoping the CryoTone tubes were not that obviously inferior to the upgraded Psvane tubes I originally purchased with the amp (Willsenton R8).

I spent about 4 hours listening to them in my system yesterday and 5 hours today. I can say without any reservation this was money well spent.

The difference between the old tubes and the new cro'd tubes is not huge, not it's not small either. It was about 2 minutes in that I realized I was hearing something different. It took another 2 minutes to figure out what the difference was. I noticed textures were more vivid with more nuance. Further listening revealed improved micro details. Details that reside deep in the mix are now more articulate. At the extremes, small almost imperceptible "pop" sounds on electronic tracks, like static from old records take on more character. Some of these "pops" now render themselves as wet, or dry, some have bloom and decay where they used to come and go without adding much to the presentation. I guess what I'm saying is I'm hearing deeper into the music.

When comparing old gear to new gear, we often "listen harder" to the new gear because we are naturally biased and are listening so intently that we can't help but pick up on differences and interpret these differences as improvements. While that may be true I have listened to some of these tracks hundreds of times, if not thousands, and I'm 100% confident I've not heard what I'm hearing now. 

I asked my wife, who's not a critical listener what she thinks and she said "the music sounds cleaner". 

I hate to put a number to it, because that just doesn't do justice to the overall change to my system, and i's always going to be subjective. But what I'm enjoying now is at least a 10-12 percent more vivid and colorful presentation. 

Not all cryogenic offerings are the same. Like a lot of tech in this hobby it's all about the alchemy, the synergy of small differences that make music more enjoyable. 

To those that have reservations about measurable differences of cryogenic treated tubes, I recommend watching Decware''s video on CryoTone.

As to the manufacturer's claims about longer life I'd take that with a grain of salt.

How do you know they weren't just simply better tubes, cryo'ed or not?

If this was answered somewhere in here, my apologies.

I guess the only real test is to buy non cryo'ed tubes, get used to their sound, then have them cryo'ed and see if you can hear a difference.

 

@thecarpathian 

That's a good question. CryoTone removes the original branding from the tube and replaces it with their label. My thinking is if they're providing top quality tubes they would want everyone to know about that. My guess is they're probably using a mid quality tube. Starting with a poor quality tube seems to defeat the purpose. I'm going to replace the (1) blown tube with a similar tube (Psvane) and do some A/B comparisons with the CryoTone tubes. Not because I'm questioning my initial impressions but because I feel I owe it to everyone to follow through with this story. Also, it's only fair to let the cryo'd tubes break-in. 

If it sounds better to you, that’s what counts.

But I would say that if you had been listening to that previous set of tubes for quite some time (as it sounds as if you have been) you hve been hearing, and are experienced with, the sound of them gradually degrading after they were at their peak.

I am thinking it is possible that what you are hearing now (that sounds so good) is the sound of tubes that have not degraded from their peak. For the comparison to be fair and accurate, I would think you would have to have the original sound of those original tubes, when they were new, fresh in your ears/mind.

@immatthewj 

My original (brand new) tubes are only a year old.

I'm not an expert on tubes but I'd venture to say they're pretty close to "peak" after 500 hours of burn in.

I believe I just got a bad one from Psvane that red plated on me.