2. amps-preamps
  3. 1145054288

I hope break in is true

This is the first time I ever bought a brand new out of the box Preamp. No, wait. Second but, the other doesn't count.
I had made previous posts about my decision to downsize.
I have, everything is kinda good. You know, Okay.
I bought a pre here. great seller, great store. Couldn't have been smoother.
I am just not used to this type of stuff. I wanted something with a phono included. I kept it well under a $1000.00
Now, I got to ask you guys. Will this thing get better???/
I have not had to worry about break in before. Does it really exist?
It is a very well built unit. Remote, I'm not used to that! That's nice. Has everything I need. Except it isn't alive. The music is there, presented very nicely. Clean, no extra stuff. Just doesn't have any dimension.
Please tell me this is going to get better:)
scottht
fedreams
107 posts
 
You haven't said much about who or what you purchased, but the answer is generally Yes! It will definitely improve! It will take about 100 hours to start sounding fair to good. After the first 100 hours the machine will settle in. Congratulations and good luck.
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Break in is a real issue, althought I don't know if it will result in the improvement you are after. I'm breaking in a new CDP, for the first 50 hours it was brittle and dry sounding - all of the notes sweemed to have their endings chopped off. It is slowly coming to gether now after 100+ hours.

I just recapped some amps. 1st 24 hours rolled off highs, and ill defined bass. I'm now about 40 hours into break in - my bass is filling out and becoming tight - the highs are reappearing. FWIW I have other quipement connected to quickly verify the breakin process.

It's real..............
linkoping
112 posts
 
after 10 years in audiophile, the answer is NO.
plato
1,543 posts
 
Personally, in my experience, I believe the break-in myth is highly overrated. Maybe folks just get used to the sound of new pieces after a hundred hours or so, but my general experience has been that if it sounds poor out of the box it may not change all that much with time. These comments apply mainly to solid-state electronics and assume your allowing for proper warm-up time (at least a half hour to an hour).

The exceptions to this would be tube gear (which definitely changes as tubes burn in) and speakers, which have mechanical suspensions that need to loosen up a bit.

If you bought a solid-state preamp, it may smooth out a little with time, but I doubt that its general character and dimensionality will change significantly. Leaving it on for a few days and letting it stabilize should help smooth it out and perhaps let it bloom to some extent.

My advice is to pay attention to detail and try different power cords, interconnects, and footers if you have those items to change out and experiment with. Cables that worked well with your old preamp may not synergize as well with the new piece. You should know in a week or so if it's going to work out for you.
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