Cryogenic treatment of tubes? Anyone with experience positive or negative?


I just ordered a matched pair of 12au7 mullard NOS tubes for my primaluna amp. Ordered them from upscale audio.  They offered the cryo treatment, so for only 8 bucks more, I got it.

wondering if anyone has done enough listening to have an opinion on the sonic benefits, or the technical reason why it makes (or does not make) a difference.
meiatflask
Engineers sometimes think too much. It sounds like he had a close encounter with a Wikipedia page.

Now that's funny,Lol.

Kenny.

Don’t knock these electronic engineers they designed everything your listening to, without them you’d have nothing but voodoo/Geoff to listen to.

Cheers George
georgehifi
Don’t knock these electronic engineers they designed everything your listening to, without them you’d have nothing but voodoo/Geoff to listen to.

Cheers George

Georgie old boy, this is simply a case where experience and education Trump someone’s opinion. That someone being your electronics engineer. Let me explain. Electronic engineers don’t get any courses in Materials Science, Engineering Science and Strength of Materials as do Aerospace Engineers and he obviously has zero experience in cryogenics whereas I have 20 years of experience. Therefore his opinion is irrelevant. Your use of his opinion is actually an excellent example of Appeal to Authority. For that you get a gold star.
I am aware of at least 2 speaker manufacturers  in the past and present that cryo(ed) the internal components/wires of their speakers. I can't imagine it is based on anything other than perceived improvement or possibly for the reason given by Glennewdick. His explanation is my understanding of the overiding benefit aside from having no benefit to NOS tubes, 1st time I heard that. I would say that sonically I have THOUGHT I heard differences, output tubes in an amplifier years back,  this would have to be revisited before I decide. My understanding that there are different methods and that not all cryo treatment is the same. Someone else with more experience might chime in on that point?

tubegroover
I am aware of at least 2 speaker manufacturers in the past and present that cryo(ed) the internal components/wires of their speakers. I can’t imagine it is based on anything other than perceived improvement or possibly for the reason given by Glennewdick. His explanation is my understanding of the overiding benefit aside from having no benefit to NOS tubes, 1st time I heard that. I would say that sonically I have THOUGHT I heard differences, output tubes in an amplifier years back, this would have to be revisited before I decide. My understanding that there are different methods and that not all cryo treatment is the same. Someone else with more experience might chime in on that point?

>>>>>Right. Not to mention high end electronics manufacturers who Cryo their components, e.g. Meitner, and most high end cable manufacturers, and many aftermarket fuses manufacturers who also routinely Cryo their products. I’m pretty sure Cryo Tube or some such company sells cryo’d tubes. Walker Audio used to Cryo tonearm and other parts for their $100,000 turntable, dunno if they still do. Hel-loo!