geoffkait
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Fun with cryogenics, well, freezing anyway
geoffkait
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OK, here's some additional thoughts on the whole Frozen Portable FM/AM Radio thing. I'm posting this after listening to the portable radio much of the past seven hours.

Even the noise is more detailed and has more air. Lol. The noise I'm referring to is that faint whooshing noise that sounds like background cosmic radiation, but difficult to says whether that's from the source or the radio itself or a combination.

The sound is more dynamic, more tonally correct and more coherent. Not as sweet as Cassette but as dynamic as Compact Disc.

Sound rock classics are more majestic, more anthemic and more emotionally involving and powerful. I hereby declare this Freezing of the Portable Radio a Game Changer. Things get a little crazy when I listen to the newly frozen radio in my bedroom as that's where I keep all my Ultra Signature Clever Little Clocks, like about six of them.

More slam and propulsiveness in the bass...you can actually follow all the bass lines of songs. Unbelievable.

Is this like the ultimate low mass system or what? Lol

Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica

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OK, here's where we are. We froze the Sony Portable FM/AM Radio and the earphones after some treatments that accelerate and intensify the freezing (shall we call it quasi Cryogenic?) process. And we saw how that process improved the audio signal, made it more transparent, less distorted and with better clarity and tonality. So, what's next? Or is that all there is? Well, actually no, that's not all there is. We can freeze the portable radio AGAIN! Hooray!! Fortunately, while the radio is in the deep freeze for the second time I can still have something to listen to as my portable cassette player and portable CD player are standing by for just such a purpose. So in the radio and earphones go again for another two day stint in the cooler. Then, out of cooler and into the fridge for a slow ramp up. Then out of the fridge and onto my lab table which is also the dinner table. So, the $64 question is does the second Deep Freeze do anything, even something bad, you know, as Michael would have us believe? I'm not hot dogging you, the sound improved some more, easily discernible by even the most skeptical or uncertain audiophile. More emphatic, better tone, what I call intricacy and squeakiness. So clean and full. And the spaciousness! The Air! Oh, my gosh! It is interesting to note that the effects of Freezing are permanent, at least they have not attenuated since the first freeze, that was about five days ago. Can we say freezing is an irreversible process? Possibly. Time will tell.

Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica

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OK, now that we've frozen the portable radio twice, each time for 48 hours with slow ramp up to room temperature and have seen how freezing improves the sound, with two freezing sessions being noticeably superior to only one.m but one is very good, don't get me wrong. It's just that since the thing is free and only takes some time why not? Besides it takes even more time to send things off to the cryo lab, and we're not yet convinced that real -300 F cryo is actually superior in effect to this simple what -20 F home freezing. So, anyway, you're probably wondering, what the heck is he talking about, Phase 3? Well, since we've been a little reticent to talk about Morphic Resonance and related things, understandably. So here's what were going to do, to make it simple and to make it comprehensible. Were going start with a proposition, and that proposition is that freezing things like CDs is apparently good for the sound. But I'm saying that not only the sound of the frozen CD but any CD! Just as freezing the CD player is good for the sound of not only the frozen CD but any CD, even unfrozen CDs. So freezing cables that are not hooked up but lying on the floor will improve the sound. Freezing anything involving MEDIA OR ACCESS TO MEDIA IMPROVES THE SOUND. Freezing books will improve the sound. Freezing DVDs will improve the sound. I'm talking about freezing DVDs and returning them to the shelf. The sound of ANY CD or DVD or casette will be improved not just the frozen DVD. So, what were talking about here is that the sound is improved indirectly, by treating things in the room, even when the things treated HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PLAYER OR WITH THE CD BEING PLAYED or with the system anywhere - AC power or the acoustic waves. We're talking about FREEZING BOOKS HERE. Hel-loo!! So here's what I'm going to do. I gave you the proposition, now I'm going to tell you how I'm going to test that proposition. Unless your initials are MG anyone can replicate this simple experiment. The experiment is going to see if freezing a great many CDs has an effect on the sound of a portable radio. Anyone not see why that would be big news if it did, right? Also, I will test to see if freezing CDs improves the sound of CD that has NOT been frozen. Or if that further improves the sound of a CD that has already undergone freezing.

I took about 100 CDs from my humble collection and placed them in the freezer for two days, then slow ramp up to room temperature. Then I listened to the portable radio to the Classic Rock station 100.3 FM as I usually do for an hour or two most days, just to see how things are progressing and for entertainment. Won't get Fooled Again by The Who sounded much more open and detailed than I remember it. Can this be working?! It was almost like another band was knocking off the Who's song. I'm thinking, well, im going to have to put another hundred CDs in the freezer pretty damn fast. There's definitely something going on. At least that's my first impression.

Stand by for an update after I have a chance to listen to some more tracks from radio 100.3 FM

Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica

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Well, here we are, I have another boatload of CDs in the deep freeze -20 F as we speak and even while the CDs were in the freezer the sound had already jumped up another energy level. So much for the theory that that it's the contraction + expansion of the atomic structure of materials that's the operating mechanism, at least not entirely, or that deep cryo at -300 F is necessary to affect the sound, or that the effects of freezing are temportary, am I right? And as much as I hate to judge before all the facts are in I'd say that NOONE is hearing ALL OF THE INFORMATION on the CD not matter what he might have done to avoid such a circumstance. Unless he addresses the media related items I'm describing here he's lost as a little puppy dog.

On things like Whole Lotta Love, Sweet Emotion and Stairway to Heaven (unbelievable bass over my tiny 60 oz portable radio with vintage Sony lightweight headphones. Some of the key attributes I now hear are improved bass structure (!) and fullness and dynamics up the wazoo, intricacy in the midrange and treble, layering and elasticity slash articulation of guitar, especially bass guitar, de-interleaving of the instruments, and more organic, correct sound of instruments and voices, very very smooth and clean. There is more AIR and transparency, and more POP in percussive sounds. And there is MUCH LESS DISTORTION. This is crazy! Can this possibly get any better?! Well, we'll see. I'll be taking the current batch of CDs out of the deep freeze later this morning and putting in another 100. What kind of improvements am I talking about here? I'm talking about a paradigm shift in the sound. Light years ahead of the ordinary sound one normally hears. Now, bear in mind I have only frozen 200 CDs, I still have maybe another 200 to go. And I don't need to remind you that I have a number of DVDs, cassettes that also should undergo the whole deep freeze thing. And books. Media. And things that access media, like smart phone, iPad. The TV won't fit.

Geoff Kait
machine dynamica

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Along with the 3 types of portables I'm using I use vintage Sony headphones, the type that came with Sony Walkman CDs players and Sony Walkman cassette players. These lightweight headphones have been produced for at least twenty years and are still available new in stores. They have large "buds" that rest right at the opening of the ear canal without protruding into the canal; thus, they are very innocuous and can be worn for long periods of time without the slightest discomfort. I have one pair of unopened Sony headphones with date 2009 on the box. Anyway I kind of stumbled onto these vintage Sony headphones/earphones accidentally. Their specs are rather good, they weight .6 oz including cable. Frequency response is 10 Hz - 23K Hz. Sensitivity is 104 dB/mW. They feature Sony's Acoustic Turbo Circuit for enhanced sound quality which they claim provides powerful bass sound, which I think is true. While the bass is powerful it is not boomy, unlike the usual bass boost available on portable players, for example. The magnets in the headphones are the neodymium type. The sound of the Sony lightweight headphones is very open, dynamic, detailed, smooth and very low in distortion. All of the other typical small portable player headphones I have experimented with, you know, all those Koss, Sennheiser, even some Sonys, sound like crap relative to the lightweights and have no bass performance. The earbuds that are placed into the ear do sound relatively good but are too uncomfortable for this kid.

Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica

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OK, here we are after freezing all CDs and all cassettes and all DVDs, of which I actually only have six, nevertheless...so what is the sound like now, after all that freezing, you might ask. Well, something like this.

"You Can't Always Get What You Want" was recorded on 16 and 17 November 1968 at Olympic Sound Studios in London. It features the London Bach Choir opening the song [the choir opening is only on the album version], highlighting throughout, and bringing it to its conclusion. Jimmy Miller, the Stones' producer at the time, plays drums on this song instead of Charlie Watts. Al Kooper plays piano and organ, as well as the French horn intro, while Rocky Dijon plays congas and maracas. You can hear all of the maracas and all of the congas for a change, also all of Jagger's screams and yelps, of which there are quite a few on this particular song. The London Bach choir is sublime. Even on such worn out war horses as Billy Joel's Piano man it's much more entertaining and musical. On Pink Floyd numbers like Dirty Girl and Wish You Were Here one is struck by how powerful the sound is (Thank You, Doug Sax) and how well recorded and how deep the bass is, and how perfectly Gilmour's guitar is integrated into the whole.

Geoff Kait
Machina Dynamica

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