CD Player break in period

Cerrot, I am delighted you persisted. . . my X-01 was absolutely awful in the beginning as well. If you ever have the opportunity, try the Alpha version of your Python chord and the Hydra 4 or 6 on your X-03. The VX chords and the Hydra 8 contain the FeSi pellets that tend to filter out some low level info on the TEAC X series.

Cerrot--I agree totally. I'm now well over 300 hours and the player is really coming into its own. All of the hardness and lack of dimensionality are gone--GONE. The thing has just laid right back and now sounds liquid, three dimensional, dynamic and REAL. I have to say that if it gets any better than this I'll.....I don't know what I'll do. Right now the Esoteric bests my Scout/JMW/Dyanvector 20XM across the board--the thing is just phenomenal. I will continue to do the solo burn and see where it takes me. I'd have never thought break in could be so dramatic or so long a process. I wonder why Esoteric doesn't provide more information about break in (how long, how to, etc) in their owners manual. Or perhaps they could burn them in at the factory. Either might ease the minds of those who feel robbed when they hear the player right out of the box. John, to answer your question--no, I would not say the player sounded "unbearable" at the start. But I can certainly see how some might characterize it that way. When you lay out $7K on a CD player it really ought to sound dam good from the jump. And I will admit I too was disappointed initially. So, I guess I would say it sounded somewhat "unbearable" compared to where it is now. BTW, I'm using a Empirical Design power cable and interconnects going to an ARC SP16 and then an ARC 150.2. Speakers are the new Daedalus DA-1.1's, which are unbearably AWESOME.

"It is now extremely musical, but still merciless with harsh recordings optimized for boomboxes, which sound hidious".

Does a cd player that makes cd's sound that bad be considered a 'high end' product coupled with a high price tag?

Surely a hi-fi system should play everything chucked at It and be musical, obviously some recordings are of lesser quality than others, but It should still sound musical regardless. IMHO.

Gawdbless,

No, I don't think so. Poor recordings sound, well, poor. Great ones will sound great. You can't have it both ways. If a CD player makes a poorly recorded CD sound decent, it is adding - or taking away something. I do not want either

Gawdbless, excellent theory. . . I wish it matched reality more than it does. I bought the complete String Quartets by Antonin Dvorak recorded by the Panocha Quartet on Supraphon. Read the various online reviews. . . they range from glowing to shamelessly salivating. Played it on my system (X-01 Limited, ARC Ref 3, JRDG 7M monos, Maggie IIIAs) . . . Truly fab performance, but. . . what an ear bleeder! Did a high bit rate OGG encoding for my PDA. . . it's wonderful! Made a copy of a key track on a test CD that I took to RMAF last fall. The track remained unlistenable in most systems--price no object. Only in a couple of cases it was bearable for more than 30 seconds. Tube CDps were no help--they screetched happily along with everyone else. I suffered the least on what turned out to be my favorite system--consisting of Primare CDp, JRDG Concerto linestage, JRDG 312 amp, Vienna Mahler speakers in the Soundings HiFi room--the rest of the test CD was magnificent. In the 'littler' Soundings room I played the same torture track on Primre CDp, Primare integrated, Vienna Beethoven Baby Grands. .. scary, but the rest of the test CD was wonderful. My own Mahlers arrived shortly after the show--I had ordered them during the summer. . . out with the Maggies and in with the Mahlers. With 310 hrs of breakin on the Mahlers, new tubes on the Ref 3 and a couple thousand HRS on the X-01 the Panocha Quartet gives a great performance, I can take a few tracks at moderate listening levels. . . but the recording still sounds etched.