Are You A Disciplined Audiophile?


The issue of whether break-in is real aside for now, when you make a change in your system, such as a new component or cable, do you have the discipline to wait before making any other changes?  I usually mark my calendar for a month and perhaps 2 months and try to change nothing else for that period of time so I can better assess exactly what the new thing is doing. But sometimes it’s difficult to wait. IMO, break in is a real thing, both in the component and the listener, but even if you don’t believe components and cables change after a few days, can you wait at least a month to listen to enough music to adjust your ears to what the new thing brings to the system on its own?  

chayro

Disciplined? There are very few components that actually change for the better with age. "Break In" in an illusion of weak minded audiophiles who can not get it through their heads that human sensory systems accommodate to stimuli. Equipment does not change, only the way you hear it changes. Having said that there are a few mechanical devices like cartridges and speakers that might change initially. 

Ask yourself this question. Why does equipment always improve with break-in and not worsen? 

Why is the audiophile world ruled by Mark Levinson's rules, it has to cost more and look cool to sound better?  

Being an audiophile means one should strive to improve the performance of one's system by any means one can afford that is practical. An evolutionary approach is necessary for most of us because finances do not allow otherwise and technology moves on. Besides, I think it is more fun this way. There was a day when you could by excellent equipment in kit form, build it yourself and save big bucks along with learning to use a soldering iron. Why did Heathkit, Eico and Dynakit go extinct? What does that say about us? Fortunately, the DIY speaker crowd is still healthy and with new digital active crossovers one can easily build a better loudspeaker than one could afford otherwise. 

I don’t get obsessive over the other things. For me, I think that a month or 2 will give me enough input to decide what I want to do. 

I didn't mention those variables out of any kind of obsessiveness, but because they might be factors which could interfere with the kind of observational discipline that is the main point in your post.

If they are obsessive, it can only be because they do not have a sufficiently great impact and so are negligible. Are you asserting that those factors are, in fact, negligible? I have to assume you are asserting that.

If it doesn’t sound good in 1 minute, I don’t hang around waiting for it to change. If it does sound good, or show signs of greatness, I will give it time to burn/break in. Tubes, bearings, drivers, and capacitors all improve with use.

Anything should break in by 100 to 200 hrs, approx a week. The "discipline" should only be there for 7 to 9 days.

The 2 month timeframe is the sneaky dealer suggested "discipline" to let the return windows expire. If it continues to sound like sht after 8 days, initiate rma, get your money back and "discipline" the dealer..