Breaking in equipment

Actually, I think in many of those circumstances you're talking about shielded twinax cables with the shield floating at one end and the direction arrows are oriented such that you would be grounding the shield at the source end and connecting the floating end to load. So the arrows do serve a reasonable purpose in that case.

 

I don't know about break in but my solid state gear requires plenty of warm up. The DAC needs a long time to warm up, like a day. I turn it off when it won't be used for many days. Otherwise, it stays powered on all the time. Same with the phono stage. Funny, most of my solid state equipment doesn't have power buttons on the front, if they have a power switch at all.

 

I suspect my equipment burns itself in quicker than my friends in the US, becuase our mains voltage is twice as high. Come to think of it, does that mean my amplifiers sound better than they do in the US, hmmm?

 

Fatigue and psychological frame of mind contribute heavily to how and what one hears.

Last weekend I was wiped out. Nothing sounded very good on my system.

So I wrapped up the music session and put on an old movie that ends poorly for just about everyone ( film noir) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Anthony Mann's Raw Deal if anyone is curious.

 

No, it just means they cost twice as much.

 

I appreciate your opinion.

 

It's worth saying that we do understand how electrical devices such as transistors work, right down to a sub-atomic level. Most physicists would argue that breaking in a transistor just simply does not make sense. But of course I accept that that doesn't count for much in audiophile circles.

 

I doubt if there is any breaking in required. Like any part of any amp or piece of electrical equipment, I would think that reaching thermal stability is important. If I was an engineer (an we all need to thankful that I am not!), I would be designing, what ever it is that I am designing, so that it is at its optimum best performance once it has heated up under proper operating conditions and has reached and maintains thermal stability.

I guess we must all accept, that the physical laws that govern the universe, are suspended indefinitely, when in the audiophile twilight zone.

 

Thanks everyone for their opinions. I'm not sure about breaking in equipment but I do believe interconnects and other wires do take some time to sound their best. I'm loving my new aurender server and would highly recommend it.

 

Maybe we should just set our gear on heating pads? Then it will always be at operating temperature?

 

How to break in your equipment?

Turn it on, play music and enjoy. There is no waiting for it to sound good. If you're waiting, something is wrong with the gear.

Cables don't break in, they connect and transfer the sound. If all sounds good to you then you've done a good job. The mythical break in is nothing more than getting past the stress of working with a new setup. Enjoy!

 

How come only audio equipment requires a break in period? Why doesn't my coffee maker need about 300 cups to really hit its stride? How come my lamp doesn't start producing better, purer light after the cord has time to break in? Why doesn't my tube toaster make differently browned toast than my solid state?

(note to self invent and patent tube-based toaster)

 

A pretty committed opinion Ron. Can you tell us how many times and what equipment/cables you were using to arrive at this conclusion?

 

Cheaper cables use the shield as a conductor, whereas better cables use two internal conductors (+ and -) with a separate shield. In directional cables this shield is only connected at one end, hence the arrow. The arrow points to the equipment that is grounded (like the preamp).

 

Not true Tom. A vehicle engine as well as other mechanical components of a vehicle DO in fact break in. Carrying an audio signal through a variety of electrical components is far more complex than running a heating element or light bulb in a small appliance is the why.

 

I have heard that before. But, out of curiosity, what difference does it make which piece of equipment that it is grounded to?

I mean, If I run a RCA cable with Arrows pointing from a CD player source into a ground at the preamp and then I run a cable with arrows pointing from the preamp to the power amp, what exactly, am I accomplishing?

And why not ground at both ends of the wire? Because unless balanced connections are being used in conjunction with fully fully differential circuitry for each item that is connected, what is the point? Isn't the outside connector of the RCA jack usually grounded to the chassis at some point?

 

Schiit Multibit DAC's do improve with some time. I think it has something to do with coming up to a stable temperature. I never turn them off. Everything else? Nah. Shrug. I don't know. Maybe speakers.

 

Well I can't tell you every time I've connected gear to my system but I have Parasound, Martin Logan, QEC Silver, Audioquest, Samsung, Music Hall, Harmon Kardon, Thorens, Nakamichi, Sony, Aiwa, Crown and Advent loudspeakers.

Its really not a conclusion or opinion for me just reality. If I said I liked the gear on for a half hour or so someone would question that as well.

 

You're right. Cables don't break in. But cables don't transfer sound either. They provide a path for electricity, not sound. Loudspeakers and headphones are the only transducers in a typical system and they're also the only things that can produce and transmit sound.

 

Yes they transfer the audio signal to be even more correct. Sorry if I minimized that to sound but you did know exactly what I was talking about.

 

I replaced the 6550's on my VS110 with KT120's as my dealer recommended. The hotter tubes made it perfectly viable as a toaster! Went back to the 6550's and now it's just a warmer.

 

I can break into almost anyplace with just a credit card- so that's my breaking in equipment. Wait- did I misunderstand the question?

 

Wait a minute — are you suggesting a combination tube amplifier / toaster?

(furious scribbling on notepad noises in background)

 

Perhaps one or both of you could prove this by taking an RMAA reading of the DAC 'cold', then after a period of time where you think it has suitably "warmed up" to prove the difference?

 

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