That's because of the complete change in state, and why I said that "everything will require re-conditioning post-treatment". In every case, where I have re-conditioned cabling, the sonic results were far better than a non-cryo'd cable (in direct comparison). Your cable not only needed full conditioning, but when you listened, it needed far more than what you had put on it at that time.
Alan, again.......simply put, if you are going to make a 'change of state' , with science and engineering behind it, in so far as proof, then science and engineering should be able prove / document the 'said' changes(audible improvements)....if not it's pure psychoacoustics !
Regardless if it makes one Happy... aa ...go for it !
The effects of extreme temperature on metals and metals as conductors is well known and documented.
This link is directly related to what is being discussed but may initialy seem to be talking about something else.
http://www.mrs.org/s_mrs/bin.asp?CID=2557&DID=59023&DOC=FILE.PDF The annealing of copper is an important part of the manufacturing process of high quality (read as high end audio spec) copper conductors so much so that Cardas control this aspect of production by doing it in-house.
Now we can see (if you have taken the time to read the link and look at the cool pictures) that the temperature at which copper forms its' oxide can determine its' shape. It has also been known for several hundred years that the rate of cooling of a metal (from forming temp) can determine its' stress handling properties, as in the use of wet clay being painted onto the blade of a Samaurai sword to produce varying tracks of flexible strong metal intertwined with brittle metal that can hold an edge.
Ok this link is rather less related to the specific topic but in it (it is just an excerpt from an introduction) we can read what is believed to be contributing characteristics to the conductivity of a metal with respect to nano structures, and more specifically how the closer arrangement of metalic
grains reduces the need for electron tunneling to facilitate a current to flow.
http://resources.metapress.com/pdf-preview.axd?code=w5pq6t5721323622&size=largestAlso interesting to read with nice pictures is this, though this discusses more mechanical issues dependant upon grain size it is still relevant to this topic.
http://www.lanl.gov/spd/Paper/JAPCu.pdfI've just spent about three quarters of an hour reading about the effects of low temperature treatment on metals and other temperature treatments to get a handle on this. From what I've read there are many mechanisms that are at play and many of these could be responsible for an improvement in sound quality.
If the original manufacturing process is so very important and to a great degree determines grain size and density (as in how much oxygen is in between) then although I don't know I can suspect that the effect of cryogenic treatment may well not be as effective with some materials as others. That mechanical factors have an effect upon grain dislocation at a nanoscopic level meaning that placing a conductor under physical strain can change the conductive properties at its' surface suggests that after cryogenic treatment some of the restructuring can be 'undone' by physical manipulation of the conductor.
It would be nice to know what ultra pure copper that has been manufactured to be very long grained by Ohno contiuous casting sounds like after cryogenic treatment as from my very limited understanding it will either have little effect, sound amazing or actually make it worse. (I don't know enough about the effect to guess what will happen to the large grains)
Perhaps one of the guys who does this for a living could let us know if there is any differences between the effect found on diferent types of copper used? Also would it be worth 'shaping' the cables before treatment, as in, getting the consumer to fix them in the shape they are used in and treating them in that shape and then the consumer keeping them in that shape by the use of a firm foam former thus limiting the stressing of the conductor after treatment?
