I can't help but be amused here. Take a look at what we have: someone posing a question with absolutely zero experience with cryo now answering questions relating to its efficacy, reversability, etc. etc. It is precisely this kind of interaction on these boards which should be taken with an absolutely huge grain of salt.
I make no claims of universal or all knowing educational knowledge. Frankly, I doubt if there is any concrete answer to question 1) or 2) above as there are probably no audiophiles out there who have done the kind of research necessary to anwser those questions, and I really doubt if there ever will be. Question 3) I honestly don't know. Question 4) My personal opinion is that, in most cases, (say 90% of what I've cryoed) following re-breaking in of the wire/component, yes, the improvements are across the board and positive. Inevitably, there will be those that dismiss my view of re-breaking in as ridiculous; I can only say that in almost all cases (approximately 90% as listed above), the cryoed wire/component exhibits lots of positives (ie. increased transparency, detail, easier to follow bass, etc.) following treatment but also has a tendency towards some thinness and stridency which disappears and is replaced by a much smoother and less fatiguing presentation following some extended (in my exerience about 15-30 days) use. Your point (a) in #5, Lost in Space, is very well taken. I am with you 100% that judgements on these issues should be rendered only by those that are absolutely familiar on a long term basis with both the components and the recordings that they are listening to. I think it would be simply too difficulty to make a judgement with respect to whether the change was positve or negative without that familiarity. And even with that familiarity, it is not easy. I have been doing recent (further) comparisons with cryoed receptacles and my conclusions are not totally at odds with audiophiles who prefer one component with better quality recordings and one with recordings that are less than first rate. Ultimately I think any system should be optomised for top quality recordings, but I can certainly respect those that choose the opposite view in light of the poor quality of much of the software we have to listen to.
This is a complicated issue, but one that someone can delve into relatively inexpensively if they choose to. My suggestion is to cryo something (probably wire) in your system that you feel you can scrap if necessary and see how you make out. That's the way I started out.
I make no claims of universal or all knowing educational knowledge. Frankly, I doubt if there is any concrete answer to question 1) or 2) above as there are probably no audiophiles out there who have done the kind of research necessary to anwser those questions, and I really doubt if there ever will be. Question 3) I honestly don't know. Question 4) My personal opinion is that, in most cases, (say 90% of what I've cryoed) following re-breaking in of the wire/component, yes, the improvements are across the board and positive. Inevitably, there will be those that dismiss my view of re-breaking in as ridiculous; I can only say that in almost all cases (approximately 90% as listed above), the cryoed wire/component exhibits lots of positives (ie. increased transparency, detail, easier to follow bass, etc.) following treatment but also has a tendency towards some thinness and stridency which disappears and is replaced by a much smoother and less fatiguing presentation following some extended (in my exerience about 15-30 days) use. Your point (a) in #5, Lost in Space, is very well taken. I am with you 100% that judgements on these issues should be rendered only by those that are absolutely familiar on a long term basis with both the components and the recordings that they are listening to. I think it would be simply too difficulty to make a judgement with respect to whether the change was positve or negative without that familiarity. And even with that familiarity, it is not easy. I have been doing recent (further) comparisons with cryoed receptacles and my conclusions are not totally at odds with audiophiles who prefer one component with better quality recordings and one with recordings that are less than first rate. Ultimately I think any system should be optomised for top quality recordings, but I can certainly respect those that choose the opposite view in light of the poor quality of much of the software we have to listen to.
This is a complicated issue, but one that someone can delve into relatively inexpensively if they choose to. My suggestion is to cryo something (probably wire) in your system that you feel you can scrap if necessary and see how you make out. That's the way I started out.