Originally Posted by nismohks
can anyone explain a few key terms for me?
i keep hearing the same things over and over again, ie:
1) cryo dock
2) jena 22g 18g
3) cry silver
4) Neutrik Nickel
5) IMOD enabled LOD
6) # of strands on a dock. some have 3, some 4 and some with mixed wires. If for example a LOD had 2 jena and 2 cryo silver, what does that mean? why are some copper and some silver and what are they connected to?
THanks
1. The "cryo dock" is an LOD sold by ALO Audio, made from cryo treated copper wire. The cryo treatment process is alleged to offer sonic benefits. Alleged.
2. Jena (Jena Labs, specifically) is a company that sells cryo treated copper wires. ALO cryo docks use their copper wire. 22g and 18g refer to guage sizes (thicknesses) of the wire. The smaller the number, the thicker the wire.
3. *cryo silver. Same deal as cryo copper.
4. Neutrik makes connectors and jacks that get used in cables frequently, and some of them are nickel plated.
5. The iMod is a modified iPod from Red Wine Audio. When a 5/5.5G iPod is "iModded", capacitors are required in the signal path that don't fit inside the iPod's slim case. Accordingly, ALO provides LODs that have these capacitors built into the signal path (inside the dock connector part of the LOD). Those are the so called iMod enabled LODs. Don't get one if you're not using an iMod.
6. Some people claim that different kinds of wire sound different, and as such cables are made with these tastes in mind. For example, I believe ALO audio has a line of cables called Cryo X Silver that uses cryo copper wires in conjunction with pure silver wires. My personal opinion is that this is all nonsense, but nevertheless many claim sonic differences between the materials. As for what it means technically, the dock needs at least three wires: right, left and ground. The four wire docks generally double up on ground (though I don't know what if any effect this has). Again, using different materials for the channels versus the ground implies the expectation of a sonic effect, but I very much doubt there is one.
I have two LODs. One made with Canare Starquad cable (pretty standard stuff, regular copper I believe, nothing fancy) and one with Jena cryo copper cable. I can attest to there being no audible difference between them.