DAC break-in question

 

jasonbourne71

1,261 posts

02-20-2025 at 09:46am 

The power of confirmation bias!
 

Try taking off those shades man. You might see the world in a different light

+1 @audphile1 

Confirmation bias is real, but used too many times subjectively. 

how about the manufacturers "break them in" before selling. 

some manufacturers, like Zu, do break-in before shipping, but most do not have the time, space, money to do so...

@katzenjammer27 

l have just purchased a new Denafrips DAC and was informed they ‘run-in’ it in for 100 hours prior to delivery. I think this is also a very good quality control move to ensure everything meets specifications and avoid any QA issues.  With DACs in particular I’ve read they should not be switched off but left in standby, presumably to keep capacitors fully loaded for when the unit is switched on.  My current Bel Canto 3.7 DAC is permanently on as per the manufacturer’s advice. Paul from PS Audio recently discussed run in apropos speakers and Upscale Audio also supports the view of great differences among non to run in speakers. As for running HiFi  in general and hearing sound changes there is evidence that electronic components change with use (both improve and with time deteriorate) but with human sound memory being so poor it’s hard to know if improvements are real. Which is what @jasonbourne71 was pointing out in his inimitable fashion, I suspect the only way to do this would be to buy two identical new items that supposedly improve with run-in and rub one in and then compare and measure new versus run in? Maybe a challenge one of Audiogon’s many HiFi dealers could easily arrange. To be honest I’m not on the fence with this as I hear differences between HiFi components, not always for the better. To get back to the topic running in the new DAC is good practice and shouldn’t need it to be connected to a preamp or amplifier stage to run in.