Burn-in time Vs. Getting used to a sound

If components really changed over time, we would expect them to get better about as often as they got worse. The fact that almost all reports of this phenomenon involve an improvement suggests that something else is going on. And the most likely suspect, in that case, is your brain.

burn in for the most part is complete bullshit with a few exceptions[tubes and speakers]. solid state electronics require no burn-in as caps form and bias adjusts in a few seconds after turn on. if it sounds bad when you first listen to it, its gonna sound bad in 300 or 3000 hrs.

Jostler and Brutus: If I only shared your hearing and mental prowess I could have saved a great deal in effort and money on hifi gear over the years. I may need to eliminate nutmeg in my diet which may account for the auditory hallucinations that I must be subject to.

Brutus-explain this then last week I was auditioning a Sugden21a amp at home-I had a mate visiting and we started listening to a CD(The Bends-Radiohead)as soon as we switched the amp on-it sounded terrible in the mid-band-as we continued to listen the amp over an hour the sound improved.1 hour approx after switching on we returned to the 1st CD-it sounded totally different-we both heard it-so your observation about a few secs and solid state do not hold true. Whilst this is not strictly burn-in it does show the effect in a simplistic manner.... Ben

Electronic components, just like us humans, suffer stress and strain. When electronic components are "powered up" all sorts of changes occur between their static (ie unpowered) and active (ie powered) states. These changes (particularly in high-end audio components) CAN and are "heard", as others have stated in this and other posts. Maybe there are some people around who cannot differentiate these (sometimes subtle) changes which affect the signal we hear, but although these people have a right to say "BS, there ain't no differences" it does show a somewhat narrow minded attitude which is contrary to the majority of those on this site who enjoy all aspects of reproduced audio and have a wiser, broader view of this hobby. Richard, www.vantageaudio.com