Zu Druid IV - the real deal?

Newbee I don't need a defense team. Sure I can't explain the tech stuff that goes with audio, but have a intuition how these concepts work out.
Gain/db levels, fq's, impedence , these things can be electronically measured. Breakin "improvements" cannot be meansured. Is there any gauge that says '90%, 95%, 99% breakin complete"??
But if you can detect breakin and its real to you, then who am I to object. We only give our opinion shere. No one is right nor wrong. If the ZU's work for you thats all that matters. Just try to be as accurate as possible in how your comments go. This way others can better base their decisions as to buy or not from your comments.
Its good to see ZU and other labs giving a trial period for their products. This offers those interested to try before buy. This shows a commitment to make sure the customer is happy, and its not all about the money.

Bartokfan....you ever hear of "reading between the lines"?

Most people will not put in the time to learn Burn in.. It takes a lot of patience, NOT LISTENING... You do not sit and listen for 15 hours straight and decide to see if something happens. But this much I can Guarantee, TUBES, Capacitors, And even Drivers will change sound character after being under continuous load for a good solid week to 2 weeks straight, then when you shut it down and turn back on it will be pretty stable but still take maybe a half hour to warm back up to the 95% level it was at after the Serious burn in occured for a couple weeks.

There are a lot of backyard mechanics on this site that have heard their system in bursts, for 3 hours here, 2 hours there, another 5 hours over there.. So what, leave em' on and burn in new caps, drivers or tubes and there is Change whether you believe it or not, whether it is for better or worse, normally for better, better soundstage, smoother transient response, things don't sound as artificial.. Kinda how a brand new car the engine does not put out full horsepower and best gas mileage as it will after 3000 to 10,000 miles, it just works. Maybe some don't experience this phenom' Okay so be it, but that would suck for sure.

I have no personal affront with Bartok and am not picking on him as you suggest. I do not question the veracity of his statements. However, my doubts are manifested by the post in this and other threads which indicate, IMO, a lack of experience and knowledge as you pointed out.

Lastly an "eager contributor" of falacious information is by definition a bad contributor IMO. Wouldn't you agree? Don't forget that a lot of folks rely on the information posted here, for better or worse, in making decisions on equipment purchases.

Thank you.

I have a friend, a piano tuner who hears things in my system I can never locate. Joni Mitchell sounds fine to me but he thinks her voice isn't chesty enough. He raves about levels of detail that I'm not sure I hear.
Plainly, the two of us have different levels of acuity or, at the least, difference points of reference or taste. Neither of us is wrong and neither is an expert. Many of the comments I read on this site seem to be very authoritative in tone. In fact, I'm sure some rabid archivist will dredge up something I've written in the past to expose my hypocrisy in mentioning this. This will only illustrate that I too am guilty or have been.
What I'm getting at is the need for all of us to recognize that our values are perceived and our opinions flawed. The sound is what he hear and only what we hear. The notion of an Absolute Sound is poppycock. How can the ephemeral be absolute? Sounds are fleeting no matter how many times we replay them. What we hear varies from moment to moment, mood to mood and person to person.
I find Zu to be unencumbered by the compromises invariably introduced by crossover networks. I also dislike makeup on women. Most guys seem to think it enhances her. To each his own.
I'm glad Skuras likes his Druids. I had the same "right out of the box" experience. In fact, I have read many times now about people who make similar statements. I'm not sure about Chazzbo's 80/20 ratio but I think the ratio of people who have actually listened to them in their own homes and loved them is much closer to 100%.