Break in period

"I will re-iterate what I normally say to these threads; well designed audio electronics equipment and cables should NOT drift significantly (i.e. audibly)
between the time you plug it in and a few hundred hours."

laudable belief. Unfortunately reality is impervious to our wishes, beliefs, opinions or otherwise. Things either are or are not, regardless of what we believe they 'should' truly be. I have no beliefs on the subject, but only modest experience with just a few components. My ARC Ref 3 improved dramatically from 0 to 150 hrs, significantly up to 400 hrs, and subtly up to 550 HRS; its 6550 rectifier tube started to deteriorate at approx 1300 hrs and I replaced it at 1900 hrs; its replacement stabilized at 70 or 80 hrs. My X-01 Limited became listenable only after 200 hrs, was quite good at about 400 hrs, excellent at about 800, but kept improving subtly until about 1200 hrs. Different equipment may behave differently. . . or even worse, I may be totally delusional.

Buy some cheap output tubes and run the system a lot, not continuously. Keep the cheap tubes for emergencies later. For $50 to $100 bucks, you will get a piece of mind.

Guidocorona,

laudable belief. Unfortunately reality is impervious to our wishes, beliefs, opinions or otherwise. Things either are or are not, regardless of what we believe they 'should' truly be

IMHO, in reality, one can select high quality electronics equipment that does not drift measurably or audibly in as little as a few hundred hours; equipment that can function accurately from day one and for many years.

Laudable make believe perhaps but I honestly think this is attainable from many respectable electronics manufacturers.

"IMHO, in reality, one can select high quality electronics equipment that does not drift measurably or audibly in as little as a few hundred hours; equipment that can function accurately from day one and for many years."

Break-in has nothing to do with the quality of components. I have used TFTF V-caps on a few amps and noticed how they change during break-in. Care to name a better foil capacitor than a V-Cap?

The reason this preamp takes so long to break in is because of its teflon caps. You wouldn't believe how much better this thing will sound, compared to the way it does now (which probably isn't too bad). But teflon caps take time, and there's no way around it. Same as my Premier 17LS2. It's worth the wait. The people who haven't experienced this don't know what they're talking about. Good luck, Dave

PS The break-in with teflon caps is not linear. Don't be surprised if it yo-yos back and forth a bit. My Ack dAck 2.0 with the teflon option just about drove me nuts before it finally settled down. That one took a good 200 hours.