Source Warm up

Besides my phono preamp which stays on 24/7 my CD player and Digital Player / DAC do not.
Amps and preamps often state from the manufacturer that they sound their best after 20 to 60 minutes.
With CD players and DACs often having large power supplies it seems like they need some warm up time too.
Maybe my imagination but everything starts sounding better ~ 45 to 60 minutes after power up.
The thought is that powered down sources need this time too.

 

My Dac/streamer is on 24/7.

 

Meh I don’t pay attention anymore man to be honest.

my mood dictates so much more

 

I have an all tube system and have always waited about 20 minutes before a listening session. I'm convinced my music is sounding better after about an hour.
I listen primarily to classical (all types) and I often notice that at a certain point, dynamics and imaging sound fuller and more fleshed-out with orchestral music. Sometimes I'll go back to the track I started with and there's a noticeable improvement in SQ. I don't think it's my 30wpc amp that needs extra warmup, I believe it's my Audio Note preamp and DAC which have large power supplies and tube rectification.

 

I think the 2nd side of the first album I play sounds better than the first. Whether that's actually true or not who knows. Mostly I'm focused on the music and as the album unfolds I'll enjoy how good my system sounds. Or how crappy this pressing is if it doesn't sound amazing. Because it ain't my system making it sound bad .

Edit: I think my system is fully warmed up after about 30 minutes.

 

Nice system. You have a big SS amp, do you leave it powered up?

 

I give my system about a 30 minute warm up each time, I’ve tried longer and shorter and come to the conclusion that most of my equipment is ready after 15-20 minutes but my dac and preamp sounds better after 30 minutes but have no noticeable improvement beyond that.

 

I have two systems. Both DACs are on 24/7. Amps and preamps are on dependent upon use.

 

I used to think I could tell the difference between warmed up gear and not warmed up gear. Used to have a phono pre that stayed on all the time. A subwoofer amp that stayed on all the time. DACs and CD players too (tube gear, always got turned off between sessions). Now, there's so much time between when days when I have an opportunity to sit down and listen to music, everything is powered off between listening sessions. I can't really tell any difference between the sound at the start of a listening session or hours later at the end of it. If there's any sonic change, it's so small that it's beyond any level that I consider meaningful. Not sure how I'd really test it anyway outside of anything psychological. Listen to a piece of music, I guess -- go away for six hours, then come back and press play again? Then go away for another 12 hours and press play again? without touching any other dials in between, or listening to any other music in between.

I realize it takes some time for gear to reach thermal stability. And I'm using tubes so there's always a few seconds at least before the tubes are warmed up. I like to give 'em 10 minutes -- like I wouldn't try to set the bias on the power tubes without leaving the gear on for 10 or 20 minutes. I know there can be measurable differences of performance of DACs and such as gear heats up (sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse -- some things need to be both warmed up and properly heat sinked or ventilated, there's a goldilocks operating point). But as I've gotten older, and life has gotten harder and the years in front of me have grown shorter, and also as my listening room has gotten much better in terms of acoustic treatments, source warm up has become one of those things that is now in the category of too small a concern for me to sweat in the least.

 

I have SS and Tube based system I usually power up the tube pre, power amp and streamer/dac as I as soon as I get home on a Friday the Cd player not at all only when I'm ready to play Cd's

 

I'd say after ten minutes I don't hear much of a difference. That being said, I feel like my system gains some unexplainable and unidentifiable quality after two or three hours.

A few years back I hosted a radio show on the low power fm station in my town. There were many hours between my show and the previous host so everything would be turned off when I arrived. Music was shuffled in iTunes when no one was there.
What I noticed is that when I turned the board and CD players on, the readings on the dB meters were not stable until about 45 minutes. It was like music was overly dynamic. I could play a song when the board was cold and maybe the peak output might vere slightly into the red but if I played the same song an hour later it would not do that.

 

Here's a hypothesis

imo it sounds better cold. In fact an amp should be put in the freezer to operate.
If hot was better why not eliminate the heat sinks?

If a device only takes 10 W for example how warm can it get?

I takes hours of idle to stabilize
<30 minutes of music

 

Just like how it takes a bit of time for your eyes to fully adjust to changes in light so too do our ears take time to adjust to changes in the volume of things around us, which is why I believe manufacturers give a ‘warm up’ time for solid state equipment. It’s not so much the equipment adjusting to being turned on, it’s our ears becoming adjusted to the sound.

 

this topic seems to pop up regularly. and like all things, it varies.
i believe that MY kit takes about three hours to reach that sweet spot.
when turned on cold, it seems to me the music is also cold, a bit harsh, boomy.
it takes about 10-15 minutes for that to start smoothing out. over the next three hours it seems to improve.
at that point it firing on all cylinders.
it stays on unless im going away for a few days.

 

My ears need 20 to 23 minutes approximately to warm up. After that threshold everything sounds amazing.
Before that not so much.
So what I do is I put a cd of Dianna Krall and read the newspaper or play silly games on my iPad waiting for my ears to warm up so I can start serious listening, usually classical or jazz, in my audio room which is built in a subterranean bunker isolated in such a way that it reaches -3 db levels of silence.

 

The only thing I don’t leave on is my turntable motor.

 

I think you are completely correct in regard to PSU. Ive noticed that some DACs (like some of the very small compact type and ones with 5v psu) warm-up nearly immediately and dont get any better while ones with substantial supplies Absolutely take about an hour to sound right.
In my current Rig I also think the Speakers need time to Loosen-up before they sound correct again, usually takes about an hour or so.
My DAC is usually always on.
The Decware gear, from stone cold, take at least 12 hours to sound right.

 

Pre amp,stays on. Amp and cd player warm up for at least half hour.

 

My CDT, DAC and streamer is on standby 24/7. Solid state amp the same. Tube amplifier is usually warmed up 30 mins before listening.

 

Like others, I leave my SS gear in standby mode when not in use. I can's swear it sounds better when warm, but I think it does.

The only thing I switch off are my speakers' electrostatic panels, to avoid their collecting dust, pollen, etc.​

 

Cartridges seem to need at least one hour before they open up.
I'm basing this observation on the fact that I have switched to a different arm/table/cartridge all else is the same and leaving the TT platter spin for hours before setting down on LP. Room is 72F

 

That’s really a strange one. Sounds like some sort of faulty internal components.

 

Perhaps bias was calibrated when cold and not warmed up?
So as it warmed up it drifted out of tolerance?

 

Oh great, another warm up / break in thread!

Sometimes I leave things on overnight, sometimes for days, sometimes I shut it off at the end of the day..... Sometimes I wake up and my wife powered down a couple of things. No solid routine. I must admit reading threads like this has had an influence on me paying attention to it more when before I didn't. In fact our host gave me a test some time ago on another thread to test SS cold start vs warm up, and begrudgingly have to admit it did plant a seed that there probably is a little more impact in the first 30 minutes than I wanted to believe.

As far as warm up time - cold start up and play right away - OK, maybe I do notice it's a little off, but after 20-30 min I things are at or close to performance potential IMO. But I keep coming back to I have more to worry about so if I find it's powered off, and ready to listen, listening takes priority and I still enjoy it.