Oppo 95: Burn-in...and Fan

Thank you again, Jeff. Very helpful.

And there you have your answer! you automatically assume a speaker breaks in because you see the drivers moving,I'm almost certain the atoms compressed together at the subatomic level are not just sitting still(but can you see them) we humans trust our eyes first. I'm sorry no one can show you (just yet) why break in occurs I do know nothing in this Universe isn't excluded from the rules, atoms compressed together in any form or state they are in, has a lot of activity going on capacitors, chips solder joints etc.. are all subjected to the laws of physics and will fail.But can and will reach a point of what I call stability and will repeat the desired result for a while( maybe years) until one day no more. Not here to be a professor, just sharing info!

I know nothing about the physics. I have, however, compared two identical components, the only difference being that one was new and the other had several hundred hours on it. The one with more time sounded better. I have done this with cables as well.

Maybe Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory could help us?

Jdub39 and Jfz - I probably have 100 hours on it now and soundwise it clearly follows the 'break-in' schedule you posted...the sound has opened up considerably and inching a good bit closer to the analog rig (naturally I am using the 'Pure Sound' setting)...I'm really looking forward to continuing running this one in. I have two wonderfully sounding integrateds but none has XLR - Creek Destiny and Marantz PM-KI Pearl - so RCA will have to do. Do you think the XLR sounds much better and what type of pre/amp do you have? Also, I have tried BDR cones and other softer vibration dampers but for me the myrtle blocks does the job.

Guys, sorry, don't mean to come across as disagreeable and I understand everyone's here to exchange ideas and info. This is obviously a pet peeve of mine that occurs often in the audiophile community. If you think your electronics sound better after 500 hours than brand new then more power to you...as someone above said this could very well be caused by your believing it should sound better...the placebo effect. I'm going to stay firmly planted in my universe though. ;-)

I would ask you though to continue to try to explain to yourselves why, if an electronics component "drifts" or settles" physically in some way when new, why it always drifts in the direction of better sound. Even if I thought I heard improvement in sound of a new component, I don't know how I could logically explain it always getting better instead of sometimes getting worse if it was due to random changes in some physical parameters.