some stuff break in is easy to hear, some stuff not enough to notice. And some stuff is a PITA with break in. And then finally some stuff just sound BAD, and no pretending it needs to 'break in' is gonna change anything.
Break in blues
I just don't have the patience anymore to wait for components to settle in.That's the only caveat with having tubed components - ya can't leave em on 24/7 to speed up the process:( I have the little cartoon devil and angel on my shoulders.The devil is ocd "You've obviously made a mistake!After 3 days and 12 ENTIRE HOURS this thing sounds horrible!!Bright,congested,arrgh!!" The angel tries to sooth me"Turn it down,go do something else,don't listen at all until it's clocked in at 50 hours. "To be fair then the right thing to do is after an initial listen to some favorite tracks to give it another 50 hours then make a decision.Sigh....
So the devil suggested I swap cables and by golly he was right this time.Everything is playing together much better now.The old Gabriel Gold cable that sounded so sweet with the Rogue preamp was totally incompatible with the new Microzotl2.The new/old cable is a Siltech Paris.
The angel is a bit miffed but now at least I can get a feel for if it's a keeper or not before the deadline to return it arrives.What I like to do is play it at low volume for 4-5 hours each day then listen at the end of that period to see how it's coming along.It's been a few years since I've bought anything new and I don't remember ever being this anxious before.I don't remember auditioning a component that seemed to sound totally different day by day.Out of the box the Microzotl was excellent,next day bass heavy,next day the GLARE!Today with the new cable excellent.So if tomorrow is also excellent the angel and I will have learned something new.Cables do sound different from each other but I've never come across a situation where one was majorly incompatible.
So the devil suggested I swap cables and by golly he was right this time.Everything is playing together much better now.The old Gabriel Gold cable that sounded so sweet with the Rogue preamp was totally incompatible with the new Microzotl2.The new/old cable is a Siltech Paris.
The angel is a bit miffed but now at least I can get a feel for if it's a keeper or not before the deadline to return it arrives.What I like to do is play it at low volume for 4-5 hours each day then listen at the end of that period to see how it's coming along.It's been a few years since I've bought anything new and I don't remember ever being this anxious before.I don't remember auditioning a component that seemed to sound totally different day by day.Out of the box the Microzotl was excellent,next day bass heavy,next day the GLARE!Today with the new cable excellent.So if tomorrow is also excellent the angel and I will have learned something new.Cables do sound different from each other but I've never come across a situation where one was majorly incompatible.