CryoTweaks Silver Interconnect

[meat01]

I purchased some CryoTweaks Silver Interconnects from www.tweekgeek.com for $43 shipped on the reccomendation of DoctorArthurWells. They arrived 2 or 3 days later via Priority Mail.

I was very happy with the looks and build quality of the cables and connectors. They are pure silver coaxial cables.





I plugged them into my CD player and amp and gave them a listen. They sounded very nice. I listened to Yes, 90210 or whatever CD it is, as well as my old standby Dire Straits Brothers in Arms. In my favorite track, Your Latest Trick, you can hear the awesome clarity of the saxaphone.

I then decided to compare them to my DIY Paper Clip interconnects, which are regular paper clips looped at the end and soldered together. I then used purple or pink scotch tape to keep them from shorting. The ground wire is just made out of Radioshack bus wire, again taped. All of the joints are secure and the cable is not broken, but these cables are fragile, stiff and rather ugly.



I plugged them in and listened to my Yes and Dire Straits CDs. The paper clip interconnects sounded suprisingly good also. For as ghetto as they look, they sound just as good as the silver interconnects, even though the 2 metals and insulation are far from similar. I gave both a good listen and tried to distinguish any differences between the 2 cables, but could not. They sound identical.

The CryoTweaks are a lot more expensive than the paper clips, but they look a lot nicer and are better made. The paper clip interconnects took at least a good hour to build and they are not very practical or well made.

The CryoTweaks are very nice for the money and I would recommend them to anyone who does not want to use the stock cables that came with your CD player. They are comparably priced with Blue Jeans Cables.

Associated Equipment:

Onix XCD-88 with OPA627 or 637s op-amps (I forgot)
Quail Power Cord
DIY M^3 with AD610 op-amps
Sennheiser HD580

[Vul Kuolun]

Sure the paper clips come already cryo-treated from the factory.
Which brand are you using?

[vcoheda]

i find this interesting, but to be honest, from the nature of your posts, you don't really strike me as someone who has an open mind on this issue to begin with.

[meat01]

I have an open mind, which is the reason I went through the trouble of building it and taking the time to actually listen to the differences. I was surprised also as paper clip material is not the most conductive material.

[vcoheda]

Originally Posted by meat01

I gave both a good listen and tried to distinguish any differences between the 2 cables, but could not. They sound identical.

i'm sorry but it just seems that this line was already formulated - if not already written down - long before this little science project had begun.

do you really expect anyone to believe that a pair of say nordost cables - the product of untold of sums of money, research and development - sounds about the same or identical to a few pieces of metal soldered together.

the notion is absurd.

[fwojciec]

Originally Posted by vcoheda

i'm sorry but it just seems that this line was already formulated - if not already written down - long before this little science project had begun.

do you really expect anyone to believe that a pair of say nordost cables - the product of untold of sums of money, research and development - sounds about the same or identical to a few pieces of metal soldered together.

the notion is absurd.

He has as much right to post his opinion here as the people who post about the incredible improvements due to the quality of their interconnects. In both cases the evidence for the argument takes the form of an evaluation of a subjective experience, thus is unverifiable... though perhaps his findings are more easily believable because they seem to agree with what we understand to be the case from the standpoint of science.

[gotchaforce]

Originally Posted by vcoheda

do you really expect anyone to believe that a pair of say nordost cables - the product of untold of sums of money, research and development - sounds about the same or identical to a few pieces of metal soldered together.

the notion is absurd.

do you really expect anyone to believe that a $40,000 mitsubishi lancer evo can keep up with lamborghinis and ferraris that cost 5x as much?

the notion is absurd!

OH WAIT!

[aych]

I agree to some points it is absurd. Im guessing your paperclips aren't that much better than mine. I listened to my paperclips and then to my dollar store IC. there was already a huge difference in the clarity of the high's and the solidity of the base. If you're not telling the difference perhaps it is time to get new headphones / speakers? or another set of ears would help.

btw. gotchaforce =P mitsubishi's are awsome. they definetly can keep up =) not as stock tho, but thats why we little azn rice boyz MOD! same way as you'd change an IC in an amp, we can easiliy put another jdm in

[dura]

I gave both a good listen and tried to distinguish any differences between the 2 cables, but could not. They sound identical.

Very alarming indeed. See an eardoktor right away.

[majkel]

1) The OP's hearing is disputable.
2) He has got very EMI-clean house. The paper clips are not shielded at all. Take them to the place with high interference level and listen again.
3) Poor CD player OPA627 and OPA637 are so dead sounding chips that could even kill the silver cable liveliness.

[Vul Kuolun]

Originally Posted by dura

Very alarming indeed. See an eardoktor right away.

ZZZZZzzzz*snore*
But since when are people that didn't hear the product themself qualified to comment on the subject anyway?

[monolith]

Originally Posted by Vul Kuolun

ZZZZZzzzz*snore*
But since when are people that didn't hear the product themself qualified to comment on the subject anyway?

Since never, but that's not stopped people for just as long. See every thread involving Patrick, for examples.

[meat01]

No the paper clip ICs are not shielded, but neither are ALO line out cables or Kimber cables that everyone raves about.

[meat01]

I did the test, I listened with my own ears and came to my conclusion. Any more good excuses why they sound the same?

Any good reasons why ICs have to be engineered and cost $100s of dollars? Any reason why there has to be 3 feet of highly conductive material between components, when are numerous feet of resistor and capacitor legs, lead solder, brass and stainless steel connectors in the audio path already?

What should my paper clip ICs sound like? Muddy, lifeless music? The electrons are flowing through wire, capacitors, transistors, solder connectors. They don't care what the material is as long as they can flow.

[majkel]

The only thing I can suggest is lending your DIY paper clip IC to a CryoTweaks interconnect owner, to make the same experiment. I guess I'm too far for you to send it but anybody within CONUS?
I can try it on Technics SL-PS840 and DIY amp which both show significant difference between 2 1m coaxial interconnects - copper IXOS 104 and silver CryoTweaks. That's what I hear while not trying 2 plain wire solutions which the paper clip looks like.