Why Cryo Treat Audio Cables?

Over time during our early years, Audio Art Cable’s customers frequently asked if we had plans to cryogenically treat our cables, or if we had ever tried it in our testing. On top of this, a close friend and die-hard hobbyist who was coincidentally representing audio cablesfor 2 other well-established manufacturers, had tried cryo treating our Classic Series cables, and had enthusiastically reported back to me with the results.

We decided we needed to hear for ourselves what benefits cryogenic treatment would bring to our cables, as we already had plans to develop step-up models for our brand. Our seasoned production tech, Phil Martinez, who had worked for several years with a well-regarded cable manufacturer as their Production Manager, was in favor if the idea. His former employer routinely cryo treated all their cable models but did not make a point of it in their marketing details.

We very much liked what we heard in our listening sessions with the treated cables in a several performance related areas, and various systems, and decided to introduce our Cryo Treated and Enhanced e Series Cables to the hi-fi market.

What Areas of Performance Are Improved?

Subjective performance improvements aside, cryogenic treatment of audio cables remains a mystery to many audiophiles, so we thought it was time to list some details on our website as to what this curiosity is all about.

Cryogenic treatment provides several important and clearly audible performance benefits for audio cable applications. Among the benefits are -

• Reduction of sibilance in the lower treble range, leading to more clearly delineated high frequency information and detail.
• Increased depth of soundstage, allowing the music to better fill the room, adding to a greater sense of “you are there” realism in your listening space.
• Improved timbre in musical instruments, making for very accurate, deeply saturated, and more believable tonal qualities of instruments and the human voice.
• Rhythm and pace become more dynamic, and toe tappingly real.
• Bass articulation, extension, and impact are enhanced.

So, how does this work?

Effects of Cryogenic Treatment of Audio Cables

During the cooling or solidification phase of the wire manufacturing process, the individual molecules making up the metals are “trapped” in a random, haphazard pattern. This arbitrary placement causes obstacles for electrons to flow unimpeded when encountered. These obstructions can cause noise, slow down electron flow and consequently will negatively impact the quality of the music being played.

At the very cold temperatures (below -300°F) achieved during the cryogenic treatment process, molecules align in a more uniform, compact structure through the removal of the kinetic energy which occurs naturally between the molecules. When the material is returned to ambient temperature, thesenew uniformmolecular patterns are preserved, making for a permanent change. These newly achieved benefits do not deteriorate over time or upon return to operating temperature.

The use of extremely fine grained Ohno Continuous Casting (OCC) metals found in our Statement and Copper Cryo Series Cables, in conjunction with cryogenic processing, result in the most uniform crystal structure possible, providing the ultimatein audio cable performance.

It’s important to be aware, however, that cryogenic treatment will not magically transform the performance of cables built with low grade materials. However, it provides a distinct and noticeable improvement with the high-purity cable materials and quality connector parts AAC uses.

Cryogenic Treatment is one of the many manufacturing steps Audio Art routinely undertakes to extract maximum performance potential from our Cables.