RAL Cryo-Silver and Prophecy i2s, by Greg Weaver

When our own Jason Serinus emailed the senior staff here at OS&M asking if he should review the Revelation Audio Labs Cryo-Silver Power and Prophecy i2s (pronounced “eye squared ess”) digital cables, he piqued my interest. His overt enthusiasm for what he was hearing using just the DC power transfer cords between his Monolithic Sound P3 power supply and the Perpetual Technologies Dynamic Duo, the P-1A and P-3A, had me emailing Brad Vojtech at Revelation Audio Labs immediately.

I wrote back to Jason saying that we would of course love to see his review, and asked if he'd mind—terribly—if I would follow up his full review with my own thoughts. He suggested I take the lead on this one as he was mired down with other projects anyway. That was all it took.

My reasons were entirely selfish. I have used that DAC/Upsampler combo—with the full Dan Wright ModWright Signature treatment—as my reference digital front end for some time. Though I had long felt that the hardware was pushing the envelope, especially for the money, I had also felt that the flimsy, molded-plug i2s cable that was included was the Achilles heel of the system. So much so, in fact, that I had ordered some mini-DIN plugs from Digi-Key and fabricated my own with some on-hand (for all my DIY wire projects) 30 AWG solid silver. The difference was notable, but the cable was both unattractive and not very robust. When I communicated my interest in the project to Brad, he was as excited as I was.

In a matter of days the cords arrived, and I installed them immediately to begin the run-in process. Brad suggests a minimum of 50 hours use before any critical listening take place. My own experience with low-level signal cables, silver in particular, suggested that longer would not be a bad thing. Since I was in the middle of a move due to my upcoming marriage and wasn't really spending any time in my audio room anyway, they got an entire, uninterrupted 13 days before I did any serious listening.

Cryo What?

For some time now, I have been fascinated by the results, even as hit-and-miss as they have been, of cryogenic treatment, whether dealing with cables, components, or software. My experiences with frozen CDs and cables are a matter of record and most have been in the slightly to significantly positive category. So, what's it all about, eh?

First, the cables to be treated are subjected to a process in which they are slowly reduced to lower than -315° F by immersion in a liquefied gas. Once they have been cooled to that temperature, they are held stable at that point (within 1 degree) for 48 hours. Finally, they are very slowly warmed back to room temperature.

According to the RAL Web site, during the cooling or solidification phase of the original manufacturing process of a cable, the crystal molecules of the wire are allowed to form in a haphazard pattern. This random placement causes obstacles (which manifest as electrical problems such as diode rectification) for electrons as they pass through the wire. This obstruction of signal can have many deleterious effects, among them noise, time smearing, and obliteration of fine or low-level detail. It also affects different frequencies in different ways and to varying degrees.

At those very cold temperatures, the theory is that the individual crystals align in a more uniform, compact structure through the removal of kinetic energy stored in the cable. When the wire is returned to the ambient temperature, this new uniform, compact pattern is permanently retained, as are the resultant benefits, with the outcome that signals flow through the cable with less interaction and alteration.

The Cryo-Silver Reference Power Cords are fabricated of conductors that are 99.999% (5N) pure silver and have undergone cryogenic treatment. Insulation is a 100% virgin hollow Teflon sleeve that allows for an air dielectric. They are hermetically sealed to prevent oxidation of the fine silver conductors. Three layers of heavy shielding are employed to reject EMI/RFI. The first two layers are of a heavy 5 mil. thick, pure-solid copper foil. The final layer is of tough, thick, tin-plated, stranded-copper braid. All connections are made with silver solder provided by the wire supplier to attain as seamless a connection as possible.

The Prophecy Cryo-Silver i2s Reference digital audio cable has five separate conductors (one each for master clock, data, word clock, bit clock, de-emphasis, and ground). They are made from cryogenically treated, 24 AWG, oxygen-free, 99.999% (5N) ultra-pure-solid-core-silver wire, not silver-plated, stranded copper as are many other so-called "silver" cables. They, too, use a 100% virgin, hollow Teflon sleeve, an air dielectric, silver solder, and the multi-layer shielding scheme. The Prophecy is terminated with custom Neutrik connectors using 24K gold-plated pins. Both products are hand-made in the U.S. of A. and are attractive (in their lavender jackets) and—well—robust as all get out.

Cryo-Power Transfer

Having heard good things about just the DC cables, I swapped out the Monolithic P3's stock 9V (to the P-3A) and 12V (to the P-1A) power cables only. I wanted to see what audible differences might come of that change alone. What a surprise! While I had expected the digital transfer cable to make a significant change, I was unprepared for what happened with just the two power cords.

Immediately I was aware of a slightly quieter presentation, even with older recordings in which the analog tape hiss is evident. I noted smoother, more liquefied bass, right on up through the upper midbass (around 300-320 Hz). Not more bass, just more lucid and with a greater sense of warmth, much closer to analog than before.

I soon noticed a reduction of a bit of high treble glare that had not even been conspicuous prior to their insertion. This reduction of edge, with no loss of detail, was very obvious on crash- and ride-cymbal strikes and upper-register piano runs. And I want to be clear on this, there was no loss of detail; in fact, it seemed to be more vibrant in that region than before.

Track after track, I was hearing a more-coherent, more-solidified sound, octave-to-octave, across the entire audio spectrum. This was manifest as an overall increase in the gelling of the frequency spectrum. It was quite apparent with piano and massed strings, offering a remarkable advance in the degree of overall cohesiveness.

I was quite happy with the increased dimension to the rendered soundstage. The stage was now a good bit deeper and slightly wider. Images were portrayed slightly smaller and better focused—not reduced in scale, but better localized. This benefit became very perceptible on recordings utilizing Q-Sound effects and those where considerable emphasis has been placed on the space of the venue, like the Cowboy Junkies, Trinity Sessions (RCA 8568-2-R).

I have to say that these obvious improvements—accorded by some thing as seemingly innocuous as the DC transfer cables from the power supply to the components—were more than just significant to me. They were downright magical, in fact.

Adding the Prophecy i2s Digital Cable

With the remarkable transformation that the Reference Power cables had wrought, I was hell-bent to add the Prophecy i2s digital cable. Guess what? More! More of everything, and then some.

More focus to locations, with a slightly greater sense of the acoustic than with the DC cables alone. Stage size, while not really seeming any larger, was yet better defined and more clearly delineated. The view into the rear corners of the stage as well as the portrayed relative height of voices, instrumental and human, was more obvious and refined. Fine detail and microdynamic events were presented with more character and had a greater effect on the overall rendering of the music. It is my suspicion that this cable has so low an interaction with the signal that low-level detail and microdynamic shadings are passed with much greater ease and are therefore more intact than the stock i2s cord. Damn!

Treble now became so liquid and articulate that I was almost convinced I was listening to very fine analog. No detail was sacrificed in an effort to offer the illusion of smoothness. In fact, it seemed as if there was actually more detail presented, yet it was much less digital sounding that I can ever recall from this rig.

Bass runs were so well-delineated and so easily identifiable that I found myself going back playing recordings that I thought I knew well, just to learn what I had been missing.

Delectable Digital Delivery

These are some very special cables. If I were asked to choose a single word to define their contribution to the already wonderful Monolithic Sound P3 driven, Dan-Wright modified Perpetual Technology P-3A and P-1A combo, that word would be vivid . The increase in focus, soundstage, and image specificity, the higher resolution of fine detail and micro-dynamic events, the quieter/darker background, and the gelling of frequency and timber make this very affordable wire set a "necessory" for any PT Combo user in particular and anyone who can use an i2s digital cable in general. Since moving to the PT combo, the addition of these cables has been the largest step closer to "analog" my digital system has ever taken. And at $269 for the 3-cable set, they are a certified steal in today's high-end-audio marketplace.

While I cannot speak to each individual claim made by the Revelation Audio Labs website on the specific contributions of the cryogenic treatment, I can say that these cables take you so much closer to the musical truth offered up by the "Demon Compact Disc" that, once you hear them, you will not be able to part with them. I know I can't. Brad, send me a bill 'cause you ain't getting' these violet cables back.

Prophecy i2s (0.5 Meters): $169.

Cryo-Silver Power cords (0.5-Meter pair): $129 ($99 if purchased together with the Prophecy)