Leaving your gear on all the time allows all the components to "come up to temperature."
Transistors, resistors and other devices all have specific operating temps that they work best at. Below these temps, they're not performing at peak capability.
Transformers will generally take 2-3 days to settle down and come up to their operating temps.
Capacitors will take anywhere between 3-4 days to settle down.
If you're continuously turning off the gear, you're basically hearing the system as it's first waking up in the morning. After it's been on for a few days, you'll hear that the tonal balance smooths out, that the top end becomes sweeter and purer and that bass has more control, articulation, and becomes more natural.
I leave everything on except my mono blocks (single ended solid state / run very hot) & transport (turns itself off after 15 minutes). It certainly sounds better than when I turned everything off and on daily.
My preamps are always on standby, so no warm up time needed. Can't do that on my amps as they are class A and would put out 500 watts apiece in heat into the room - not a good idea in summer.
I just turn them on a half hour before listening and have never noted any change in sound during a long listening session.
I think that it depends on the particular amp, whether it 'settles in' or not, and how quickly.
Since my system is in daily use I leave my SS gear on 24/7. Transistor gear tends to fail on turn-on! Having fewer on/off cycles is better for longevity!
I have talked to Mark Levinson tech on my amp and Benchmark about their DAC and both told me i could leave on all the time 24/7 without any issue. Levinson said it could help sound better lessening the warm up period of an hour or so. My Ayre preamp is always on by default, no turning off or standby mode available. Mark Levinson does recommend leaving in standby mode the 532h amp at a minimum to keep transistors powered up.
In summer I leave my Class A amps on standby (30% power), but they still take many hours to warm up to full performance. In the winter I leave them on a lot - costs nothing, just replaces the heater.
My phono/pre reaches full performance after a few hours.
Almost 40 years into this hobby and I have finally found an all solid-state system that sounds great no matter what is playing. I leave everything turned on all the time, except for the two 300 wpc Class A monoblocks, which I sometimes power up night before when I know I will be listening the next day. I also sometimes leave them powered up all weekend if I know I will be listening a lot. Although the amps do have a “low” bias, it is still 200 wpc in Class A and they still get hot, even in low bias. They sound noticeably better after being powered up for an hour, and then it is diminishing returns. The front end gear and preamp don’t draw much current and sound better when powered up all the time.
My old BAT VK600SE definitely took a good couple hours to sound its best. However leaving it on, in Florida, all the time was just not realistic.
My present Ayre ax7e stays on all the time, mytek Brooklyn on all the time,Bluesound vault2 on all the time,Goldnote phono stage on all the time. Always ready to rock and roll now!
Zenith setup is very user friendly. Instead of Roon, I use LMS because I have several Squeezebox Duets, Raspberry PI Squeezelight players, and AirPlay speakers making up my whole house music system.
I have the 2 TB model and have started ripping my CD library to it. There are two modes. In “quick” mode it takes about 8 minutes to rip a CD. The other mode is slower but you’re suppose to get a better copy. I use the quick mode and have had no problems. What I don’t like is sometimes their album art doesn’t match the CD cover. I don’t think they are using a US based source.
Zenith’s SQ is much, much better than my McIntosh 7008 CD changer and the Squeezebox Duet that it replaced. Local FLAC and DSD music files sound great, as does Tidal HiDef music.
I have the MK2, their MK3 version will be out next month. I got a great deal on a demo MK2 that I couldn’t pass up. When my ship comes in, I’ll upgrade to the Statement model :-)
I have two class A monoblocks I turn off, after a listening session as well as two Aesthetix tubed preamps that remain in standby, when turned off. It takes approx 30-60 minutes for them to come to operating temp. As stated above, the temps of all my amps, as well as the operating costs of leaving them on continuously, prohibits my leaving them on. My Theta Miles, also stays in standby, with the exception of a forecasted electrical storm, then everything gets unplugged, except for one or two components I would like to get zapped😊
I must say, my music does sound much better when I leave the equipment on.
My NAD M12 pre/dac and M22 v2 power amp have a standby mode, but the Zenith does not. First chance I get, I'm going to place the NADs in standby mode for a few hours and then power them up to see how long it takes for them to warm up.
I also have class A Mc MC2600 and Pioneer SPEC-4 power amps, which I rarely use these days. I've always left those puppies off until I plan to use them.
Most newer equipment has slow start circuitry that dramatically reduces the on/off cycling damage possibility for high current amps. So, that really isn't an issue anymore.
Other than that, heat is the enemy. Running equipment 24/7 will reduce the life expectancy of any equipment. Auto manufacturers and dealers now tell people that oil of today is substantially better than oil in the past so time between oil changes can be lengthened. While that may be true. It is still better to change oil every three thousand miles or when that oil appears dirty. Why take chances with expensive repairs.
Some manufacturers want return customers.
common sense is a necessity.
Tube equipment and especially tube amps. I'm turning off. Tube life is typically 2000 hours for power tubes and those suckers are expensive. Unless the amp has some sort of standby circuitry that lengthens tube life.
I learned my lesson so I turn my equipment off after use and turn it on when I come home.
I came home a few years ago to a house smelling of burning circuitry. My Krell KBX electronics crossover has no on/off switch and is always on. Well, some circuitry started to fail and burn.
Well lesson learned. When I'm gone, the equipment is off. My system sounds great after 30 to 40 minutes of warm up.
I agree that heat is the enemy of electronic equipment. I also think that if kept cool, you can run your equipment 7/24 with no issues. Computers are a good example of that. My desktop computer is liquid cooled, runs 7x24, and I've never had a problem.
My NAS drive runs 7/24 with no issues.
Servers in our data centers run 7/24 with no heat related issues.
All of my amps are in my basement where it is always cool, sometime too cool for my taste, but my wife loves it - go figure. As I noted in an earlier post, I will try turning my gear on from standby mode to see how long it takes for them to settle down. Also, saving a few $ on electricity and helping the environment are both good things.
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