2. digital
  3. 176600-80783

Turn off or leave on?

I am curious to know what others are doing with respect to powering on/off their hifi systems. My system like most is a mix of tube and SS components: tube gear (mono amps, preamp, and phono). SS gear consists of (SACD/CD player, DAC, server, and external clock) and I have a conventional DC powered motor for my LP player.  On days when I know I will listen to music, I turn it all on and leave it on until I go to bed at which time I turn it all off. I have read that it is better to leave SS components on (limit the number of temperature swings associated with powering up) and only power down tube gear (extend tube life).  Many of the components have power saving features so they shutdown after an inactive period but that is more of a sleep mode as I understand it and not the same as a true power down.  Not to complicate the question further, all the amps are hybrid so they have in effect both tubes and transistors  My SS gear is a dCS Vivaldi One plus external Vivaldi clock, server is Taiko Extreme, and my amps are all from Tenor Audio. LP player is AMG 12 that uses a typical external DC motor always left on and powered up.

besonic

Showing 1 response by erik_squires

erik_squires
16,710 posts
 

I leave my DAC on almost all the time, but it's power consumption is minimal unless playing high resolution music.  My SS integrated is AB and I leave it on a lot because I rarely get to sit and just listen for an extended period of time, but it does really well even when first powered on.

OTOH, I have some Class D amplifiers that do really poorly for music until powered on for 3-4 days.  They are very cool running though, with minimal power consumption when not playing music.

Your mileage may vary. :)

I do want to point out we are not always aware of or home when power surges hit. I'm obsessive over surge protection in this home but if I know a storm is coming over night I still turn everything off I can, including the surge protectors.

More to discover