How to evaluate amps that are not broken in?

My experience with human nature is that those with a passionately held and generally negative position will press their case vociferously and indefinitely, even in the face of volumes of contradictory evidence, particularly if this evidence does not square directly with their own experience, perceptions, or sense of fairness. - Knownothing

Depends on what one considers and accepts as evidence. Loads of anecdotal evidence is nothing more than loads of anecdotal evidence.

Wow! Seems this thread has now entered the realm of philosophy! Naturally, the following question arises:
If a component goes through a break-in process but audiophiles are too busy debating whether break-in is "real" to pay attention... then what??????

If a component breaks in when no one is listening , does anyone know it ?

Hmmm .

;-)

This is what dealers are for; good ones have burned-in examples of the things that they sell.

Lacking that, perhaps you live in West Texas, then it is correct to assume that components will only get better with burn-in; however, some really outstanding components can sound ugly on first hearing.

You're auditioning a couple of good brands, so you'll likely be ok. Particularly listen to music with lots of low bass. Can the amps control your woofers? Some will not and can be eliminated. As for the mids and highs, it's a crap shoot until the amps burn-in, IMHO.

Dave

Dcstep, I've been told that Alan Yun, Silverline audio speaker designer, particularly recommended Belles ... at least until he began building his own amps! My dealer is just now starting to carry Belles (I will be his first Belles buyer) and was unable to get hold of a burned-in demo unit. I will keep what you suggest re: low bass in mind.