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Cryo Treatment: does it provide improvements in sound or longevity?

I'd be interested in hearing from audiophiles that have actually tried Cryogenic treated tubes and listened to them vs non-treated. 

I would really prefer not to hear from folks from a theoretical point of view, or that have no experience.

The last time I bought a set of tubes for my amp, just for fun I got the Cryogenic treated ones. They are replacements on my Audio Research Ref 160s. My KT150s were approaching the end of life and I heard them getting hard sounding. So I switched them out. The new tubes immediately restored the amp to its beautiful normal sound. I heard no difference from Cryo... although if it was subtle... no way I would... this was no purposeful comparison. I guess I'll have to wait 3,000 hours to see if they last longer. 

Just wondering if someone with good equipment and a trained ear has done listening tests (not measurements) and made a conclusion. 

ghdprentice
tablejockey
4,403 posts
 

Passable equipment/seasoned ear.

No SQ difference between a cryo/non cryo power tubes to my ear. One actually FAILED 2 months in! So much for those "jacked molecules"

I lean towards BS, but say If one believes, then it adds to the experience. If cryo doesn't add that much to the price what the heck?

What about cryoed speaker cable, fuses and remote controls?

erik_squires
17,551 posts
 

IMHO, not as much improvement as wiping down your interconnects with a soft damp cloth twice a year. 

bolong
963 posts
 

I tried some cryo'd tubes a few years ago, and they had structural issues that sometimes led to  premature failure. I am gambling on some CryoTone tubes because of the good reviews in general. Allegedly, their more involved cryo process results in longer lived tubes and better sounding tubes. We shall see.

Cryo Shops

slaw's avatar
slaw
26,533 posts
 

Always been unimpressed really. Seems more of a marketing ploy.

westcoastaudiophile
819 posts
 

"Cryo Treatment: does it provide improvements in sound or longevity?"

no, and no.

I designed SS analog circuits, used in large, up to few billion gates SOC (system on chip), to make sure there is no structural damage of different temperature driven materials expansion in whole devices, within storage / operational guaranteed temperature range.

Cryogenic temperature is outside guaranteed storage and operational temperature range, thus it will cause structural damage of tubes, mainly due to difference of TEC (temperature expansion coefficient) of materials used to build a tube! 

nice example of it: 

railway thermal expansion

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