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break in

Do you ever not purchase something because of the time it takes for it to break in? I personally consider it when I am looking a another component. For instance if the fall season rolls around and I think about spending more time listening to music I do not like to go through 150 or more hours of break in and not enjoy my listening sessions as well. I have had things take much longer than 300 hours to settle to that level I like. And I don't like to leave my stuff running 24/7 just to break in, so that doesn't work for me.
And on a side note can you roughly guess at how many total hours of break in you have had on all your equipment?  Things I can think of to avoid some break in is get used items or integrated components like amps and such. I take those things into consideration when I am looking at equipment.  

marqmike
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,795 posts
 
Marqmike, I like that we can both approach that destination of listening pleasure from different perspectives. "All roads lead to.." kind of thinking.
Also, I can empathize with your loss of pleasure when things don't come together. I got into this hobby with the express purpose of deriving pleasure. I tried not to get caught up with the equipment but that turned out to be a fool's errand on my part. The break in part I had to settle with and learned later to appreciate so as to not go nuts.

All the best,
Nonoise
gdnrbob
4,441 posts
 
I will admit to being skeptical of the 'break in' belief, but I can say that it is true.
Everything from speakers to cables to high pass filters changed from the time I connected them.
I will also say that each time I noticed a change, it was for the better.
B 
reubent
6,952 posts
 
I just ordered a new phono cable today. Because it's not possible to leave the TT playing 24X7, I paid a few dollars extra for break-in service on a cable cooker. Don't know if it will make any difference, but I felt better spending $10 CAD ($8 USD) for 48 hours of break-in service.

jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
Do you ever not purchase something because of the time it takes for it to break in?

No, but I have not bought many items due to the hassle of having to sell the item it replaces.

Break in is not a problem for me, I use nonoise's method.
Selling gear is a headache for me these days. That's what keeps me from purchasing many items nowadays. ;^)
jond's avatar
jond
5,740 posts
 
I personally don't really pay attention to break in, I pretty much need to have my system playing from the time I get home til the time I go to bed unless I'm watching something. So if i drop a new piece in and don't love it I let it play for a few weeks every night and if I still don't like it move on. I guess I've gotten smarter, or luckier, as I've gotten older but I haven't bought anything in a while I wasn't happy with. Just dropped in a new dac and loving it from note one and I will say its gotten better over the last week it's been here, to me that's an added bonus.
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