why performance increase after pause?

Davehrab, which CD player specifically have you found this to work with? The same with more than one of the same model?

I'd have to think that if this works the player is either defective or poorly designed and would be looking elsewhere.

"I have found Davehrab's tweak to work on virtually every CD player or transport I've had--Krell, Sony, EMM Labs, Forsell."

If so then one more reason to dump the CD player and go to a music server.

Does anyone hear a similar effect with a music server?

If happening it could be a psychological/euphonic thing, similar to ADHD. THe sound of the music when it starts seeming most euphonic then the effect lessening over time as interest is lost for whatever reason.

The voice coil theory is plausible I suppose.

You would think fancy well built and expensive CD players aimed at audiophiles at a minimum would be able to do their job properly without any special usage tweaks. I guess someone forgot something in the design and testing.

Frankly I'm not sure I have ever heard such a thing even with the less esoteric players I have used in recent years (CAL, Denon).

I have not used my CD player in over a year in that I always rip and play from music server now, so its really not much of a concern for me. NExt time I am using it, I'll try to give an unbiased listen, but am skeptical I will hear anything much less anything I could clearly attribute to the device. But you never know. I will not be loosing much sleep over this, even less than I do worrying about how my fuses sound.

I am not quite ready to withdraw E's audiophile certification based on this although I'm sure she does not give a rat's ars whether I or anyone does or not.