I’ll share an experience I had with gear breaking in. Years ago I needed to buy two of the same stereo amp for a bi-amping project I was working on. I got the amps long before I was ready to use both of them, so I gave them both a listen, determined they sounded the same, and then I put one back in its box and played the other one around the clock for a month. When I wasn’t home or in bed I played pink noise through load resistors.
After one month the improvement was very obvious to my ears. So, I pulled the other one out of the box and compared it. It had improved just as much! This doesn’t tell everybody’s story, but it does suggest that we break in as much as the gear does. It takes time to adapt to a system that sounds different. These amps sounded brighter, leaner in the bass than what I had before. They were early switching amps with digital input, and because of that they were a zero feedback design. When I plugged in an amp with actual feedback the bass was overwhelming at first, and seemed excessively thick in the lower mids.
I agree, enjoyment is what it's all about. There's no exactly correct sound presentation, but over time you may find you can adapt to some better than others. It does take time to settle in to a sound to discover what it has to offer, and where it ultimately may disappoint.
Currently I don't change equipment much, but with active crossovers that I can change at a whim, I get a lot of different sounds. I've learned to listen for at least a few weeks before changing something, unless it's unbearable. Also, it's great that I can save settings and compare them again later. Everything has ups and downs. Lately I've settled on a more prominent midrange sound that's rolled off a little more than what it takes to get best realism and airiness. It sort of sounds old fashioned to me, but it's proven easy to listen to for many weeks now.
