The Great Cryo'd Outlet Test

Hdm and Stehno....Some facts...

There is zero chance that I mixed up the outlets which I received (although I have no way, except trust, to know what I was given). I was, of course, aware of the risk of mixup, and took suitable precautions.

The screws were removed and placed in the plastic bag when I first received the outlets. I thought that the "two screw" outlet might be a way of telling which was which, although I guess Hdm did something more clever than that!

On the back of each outlet I marked "A" and "B" just in case the little slips of paper got lost.

Both sides of both outlets were "burned in" on the refrigerator. (That's why it took so long).

I am 90 percent sure that the Cryo'd outlet was the one with two sets of screws. I didn't think to note this carefully, as I didn't think the screws were significant. The extra screws were simply removed: no chance that screws were switched between outlets.

The outlets were sent to Stehno labeled "A" and "B". A sealed envelope contains the key.

Thanks Ed. You are correct on all counts! As it turns out, when I sent the 2nd receptacle to Ed, it only had one set of screws (just because I had previously been using it that way, not to differentiate between the receptacles-I made other markings on the cryoed receptacle to differentiate it). But I can tell you now that the extra set of screws has been cryoed. As I said above, I doubt if this will have much of an effect on the outcome as my gut feeling is that it is the cryo of the power contacts themselves that has the bulk of the effect, but Stehno may want to make note of those screws and use them only on, say, the upper half of each receptacle to keep things consistent.

Generic update.

It's now been 4 days since one of the outlets has been installed. I won't say which one I installed first.

But you know, it probably would have made sense to listen to outlet A first because outlet B is the one that is probably cryo'ed. But then again, that would have been exactly what Hdm was thinking when he labeled these, so he probably labeled the cryo'ed outlet A. But then Hdm just might think that the tester might think that too, therefore, he would have labeled the cryo-treated outlet B. But then again, if Hdm is deeper still, he would have ...,. I gave up on that one.

I mentioned in my last post that after about one hour of burn-in and 20 minutes of listening, I had noticed some very minor improvements.

By Monday evening(after 12-16 hours of burn-in), sonic improvements were fairly substantial. Especially in comparison to when the outlet was first installed last Saturday evening. And the benefits even appear to improve just a bit more over the last 48 hours.

This is quite surprising from an outlet that has supposedly been burned-in. I would not have expected this. However, I've always received the biggest sonic benefits from tweaking the amplifier's electrical over the other components. Since my amp is plugged into the lower outlet which perhaps had less usage because that is the outlet that came without the screws installed. I'm reaching... but that might explain the 12-16 hour (equipment powered on) burn-in time.

By no means am I implying that I must be using the cryo-treated outlet. It could be the non-cryo'ed outlet and yet it is still better than the FIM outlet it replaced. But I would have my doubts about that.

But the sonic improvements that I am hearing appear to be along the same lines as when I installed my cryo-treated IEC connector to my amplifier's line conditioner. Just not quite to the same degree.

In the next day or so, I will install the other outlet and I obviously will have to burn it in at least 48 hours before making any real determination can be made.

At this point the possibilities are at least narrowed down to one or more of the following:

o That Hdm's outlets could be identical (both cryo'ed or both not).
o That one of Hdm's outlets is clearly superior to the other.
o That at least one if not both of Hdm's outlets is clearly superior to the FIM outlet it replaced.

-IMO

Hi Stehno: I have no idea which one you're using, as I never labelled them A or B; it was Eldartford that did that. When you're done, though, I can tell you which is which based on a couple of distinguishing marks I placed on the cryoed outlet before shipping to Ed.

FWIW, the outlets that you have (Hubbell 8200's) are not my first choice (and are clearly no longer in use by me) because I feel the nickel plating adds a somewhat more "forward" sound and a very slight bit of zing or distortion, but many people still like this outlet, or its 20 amp version the 8300, over the non-nickel plated 5262/5362 that I am using now. Albert Porter's 8300's are somewhat unique for a hospital grade as they have unplated contacts as well. But compared with other receptacles with both plated and unplated contacts, the nickel plated Hubbells are still very smooth and refined.

It sounds like you may have the cryoed one in use; if you don't and can hear a difference when you install the 2nd one, you're really in for a treat.

Stehno...Don't you think it's more fun not to know which one is Cryo'd? Make your best guess, and then open the envelope! But don't get too excited...your odds are 50/50. We would need to get a couple of dozen more folk to play the game before the results would be meaningful.