2. amps-preamps
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Break in time that extends to months or maybe even years!!

On another thread, we have a well known and well respected piece of gear ( and great sounding too, IME) that according to the member who is reviewing it, needs in excess of 1000 hours to fully break in!! 

While we have all heard of gear that needs immense amounts of 'break in' time to sound its best, usually gear that involves teflon caps, I question whether this very long break in time is the job for the consumer? Is it reasonable for a manufacturer of audio gear to expect the consumer to receive sub-par performance from his purchase for potentially several months ( years?) before the true sound of the gear in question can be enjoyed? Or, is it ( or should it be) perhaps the job of the manufacturer of this gear ( usually not low priced) to actually accomplish the 'break in' before releasing it from the factory? Thoughts...
daveyf

Showing 1 response by mlsstl

mlsstl
1,452 posts
 
Don't forget what's on the other side of "break-in" -- it is break-down. At some point the performance of any device starts deteriorating.

For the neurotic, that means there will be only one day in the life of a device in which it performs at its optimum level. And it is impossible to expect that day for any one component to line up with the optimum day for any of the other components in a system!

For myself, I recognize that I am the biggest variable in my system. The differences I hear are often more likely due to my mental and physical state than anything to do with my system.
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