Porter Ports or Cabledyne Cryo Hubbell 5362

You guys do realize that the Porter Port is a cryoed HBL 5362?

Or do you?

The Porter ports are not an out-of-the-box stock 5362. They are a special order un-plated version.

http://porterhouseaudio.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52:porterports

You guys do realize that the Porter Port is a cryoed HBL 5362?

Then how do you explain the different appearance of the outlets?

HBL5362 @ Cabledyne

Porter Port

Besides the green dot, cover plate mounting holes, and backside of housing, the words "hospital grade" are engraved in the back strap of a Porter Port.

My mistake. Albert did stop using the 8300H a few years ago and switched to the 5362 as Hubbell changed the materials in the 8300H and started manufacturing it with a ferrous backstrap. See here:

http://new.audiogon.com/listings/porter-port-20-amp-porter-ports-cryo-ivory-or-white-color--11

It appears that he's now gone back to the 8300 (probably the 8300H by the looks of things).

Having used cryoed versions of both the 8300H and the 5362 personally, I can tell you that there is not much of an audible difference between them. I might give a very slight edge to the older version of the 8300H with the non ferrous backstrap-not sure about the new version as I haven't heard it.

The 8300H is a "slim line" hospital grade, so has a much smaller chassis than the 5362 which might be of benefit if you are putting them into an existing power strip or conditioner. To the best of my knowledge the current 5362 is still completely non-ferrous; not sure about the newer version of the Porter Ports.

As to the actual contacts, the differences were always minimal between the 8300H and the 5362; as I recall the 8300H had very slightly (and I mean very slightly) beefier contacts. In my experience it would be very difficult to distinguish between cryoed versions of those receptacles.

At a considerably lower cost (33% is considerably lower in my book), I'd take a cryoed 5362 over a cryoed 8300H unless you needed the much smaller chassis of the slim line hospital grade.

Explain to me why you would need and isolated ground outlet with residential wiring.

Also many hospital grade outlets are nickel plated such as the Hubbell 8300 series.