Why "Cryo" anything?

I must have hit a nerve or something. Anyway, maybe I did not state my position clearly.

I understand the reason for cyro treatment after the material is heated to a cerntain temperature to change its properly. This is not the case from what I have understand about the current state of Audiophile "Cryo" treatment. They simply freeze object of desire. That makes no sense.

Let me give you an example for why it would work.

Heat up a piece of Cu to around 500C. Solid state diffusion will start rapidly and grain size will grow. If you put that piece of Cu under some kind of physical or magnetic force, the grain will grow in one particular directly. Now just sudden drop the temperature to a much lower temperature will freeze the grain in that state.

This is basically what happened a long grain Cu speaker cable is made. (Any piece of Metal is usually made of millions of small grains)

Now a counter example:
The metal is already in a solid state in room temperature or < 100C. Drop it into a liquid nitrogen. It's not going to change the structure of the metal at all. As soon as it return to room temperature, it's no different than before.

Someone mentioned glass, an amorphous material. That means it's in a solid form and can change somewhat at very low temperature. (< 50C) Still, just drop a tube in liquid nitrogen will just put lots of stress on the tube unnessarily and likely shorten its lifetime. Still does very little.

Eric

Cryogenic Treatment: FROM JENA LABS

Your Options

"Many JENA LABS wire products are Deep Immersion Cryogenically treated as part of the standard production process. Those for which Cryogenic treatment is not standard may be ordered with optional Deep Immersion Cryogenic treatment. This treatment entails a cold chilling process culminating in immersion of the cables in Liquid Nitrogen, also known as LN2. The boiling point of LN2 is -320.4° Fahrenheit, [-195.77° Celsius] or about 400° F below warm room temperature. In the liquid state as we use it, the LN2 is actually much colder than this temperature.

What happens?

Exposing metallic objects to this extreme cold causes beneficial molecular changes to occur. As metallic objects cool, they shrink. With the extreme cooling and the shrinkage that follows in LN2 immersion, the crystal boundaries of metallic conductors align more closely with one another and become more conductive and quieter. Mechanical integrity is also improved. The improved molecular condition stays intact through the slow warming process and is stable at room temperature.

Benefits

When conducting an electric signal, treated wire and formed metallic parts will produce less micro-diode-effect noise, less impurity inclusion field disturbance and less 'slow field' transverse energy generation. The result is a cable or electrical device that is quieter in noise floor and more revealing of subtle musical nuances.

Difficulties

Working with LN2 requires very specialized and expensive equipment, and extreme care in process. It is very dangerous, as the cold is so severe that it can result in severe injury from accidental exposure to the liquid. The process of chilling and warming takes several days to complete, and if done incorrectly can result in the fracture and loss of the materials being processed. In every phase of the treatment, extreme care must be taken. We feel strongly enough about the musical merits of the treatment, that we gladly make the investment in the equipment, the time, and the safety procedures needed to make the benefits available to our customers.

CDs, SACDs, and DVDs

Optical discs used in home entertainment benefit from Cryogenic treatment. The sound produced by treated discs is smoother and less fatiguing, while also bringing a sense of wider frequency response, more dynamics and a much more life like detailed 3-D soundstage. The video portion of DVD information is improved with better color saturation, lower noise, and improved sharpness. JENA LABS employs a stirred Evaporated LN2 vapor system to treat optical discs. This treatment chills the discs to -320° Fahrenheit, which though not as cold as our Deep Immersion process, certainly qualifies as authentic Cryogenic treatment. Our experiments have shown that exposing optical discs to the extreme cold of the Deep Immersion process may cause some discs to fail. The stirred Evaporated LN2 Cryogenic process we employ is perfectly safe for the discs, and cold enough to impart the beneficial sonic and visual improvements we desire.

Beware of others Cryo-Claims

Several audio writers, equipment modifiers, and so-called technologists have promoted refrigeration of cables and electronic parts by packing in Dry Ice. This is NOT cryogenic treatment. It results in only minor and temporary improvement. Even gas bath refrigeration in a cold furnace cooled by LN2 will not provide a sufficient chill. Scientifically speaking, Cryogenics refer ONLY to temperatures at or below the vapor point on Nitrogen, -320.4° Fahrenheit. Our process involves temperatures that are substantially colder than this. Clearly, dry ice has nothing to do with Cryogenics. Only true Liquid Nitrogen Immersion, as employed by JENA LABS will fully and permanently enhance the musical behavior of metallic conductors".
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What does not survive cryo treatment well are:
1) Metal Oxide Varistor, an electronic component used in surge suppression [they cracked].
2) Silicone compounds for damping [they shrunk a bit and hardened].
3) Neoprene rubber [shrank a bit and lost elasticity]. I also have been told that silver mica caps don't do well, and "some" adhesives".
Add the mov's and silicon (and other) damping compounds last, *after* the cryogenic treatment....that way everything will be perfect.

Yeah, cryoing cables is good, but remember, the more you bend them afterwards, the less the cryo benifit remains.
Same thing with any cable that has 'burned in'. Unplug it, move it around a bunch, coil and uncoil it a bit.. and boom, you gotta reburn it in.

Elizabeth,

Good point. I've even noticed that if I disconnect something for awhile I need a short break in to get back where it was. BTW, I don't own any cryo'd cables, just outlets. My experience is with broken in cables taken out to audition something else and then reinserted a few days later.

Question about the basic thought Elizabeth brought up. I cryo'd an engine block and reciprocating assembly for a gound pounding small block. The benefits of the cryo process were quite evident after the normal duty cycle of this motor. You know, tear down, inspect, reassembly. The cylinder walls didn't even need to be rehoned. So, my question is if the materials in an internal combustion engine with all the heating and cooling from prolonged abuse retain the benefits, will coiling and handling of cables make the cryo process go away?

The reason that liquid Nitrogen is so cheap is that it is an undesired byproduct of making liquid Oxygen, which is in demand. You get liquid Nitrogen by making liquid air (mostly Oxygen and Nitrogen), and then letting the Nitrogen boil off, some of which is collected and sold at little more than distribution cost. You are left with Oxygen, which is what you were after. How long will it be until some enterprising Cryo outfit starts using liquid air, at a lower temperature than liquid Nitrogen, and tells audiophiles that their N2 Cryo'd cables are warmed-over junk.

And regarding NASA...not everything they do is desirable. I prefer my steak on a plate, not from a toothpaste tube.