Tube DAC Conundrum

Could someone please explain the "risk" involved with leaving small signal tubes on 24/7.

Mrtennis, couldn't agree more with the environmental impact, but it just ain't gonna' happen. Actually the largest negative environmental impact is due to the dedicated listening room. To have a dedicated room usually means you have a large free standing house. Imagine if every family in China and India lived in free standing houses averaging 3,000+ sf? There wouldn't be a single tree still growing anywhere on the planet. Reality sucks when it intrudes upon our sybaritic pursuit.

Leave it on 24/7 and change the tubes every year. It's perfectly safe assuming proper ventilation and decent equipment design. The issue with digital equipment is that the clocks need to be at thermal equilibrium for optimal performance. Effectively, that means leaving them on 24/7.

If you're interested you could conduct a test. Leave the D/A powered for a week and listen, then turn it off for 48 hours. Power it up and figure out whether you can hear a difference.

As I asked yesterday, could someone please explain the danger or risk of leaving small signal tubes on 24/7?