Burn in Step up transformer with ipod.

I am happy to report that no damage has been done to my step up. I have been feeding it with 10% to 60% of the volume of the ipod for approx 80hrs. Normal music signal was used.

Results: When i listened after burning at 10% volume around the 24hr mark, i could not really hear much difference. But now WOWWWWW, complete transformation. Bass is really deep and thunderous, mids and top really opened up. At the same thing it sounds very relaxed. I also find that it sounds louder at my previous volume level. This could be due to the Step up sounding a lot more dynamic.

I will continue burning in unit in the following weeks.The MC step up is the New York based Audio Labs T20. I also have a Lyra Erodion that i have been using for the past year, but which i will also burn in.

Thanks to al that have contributed to this thread.

If we analyze what a transformer is, it is a length of signal-conducting wire (s) that are wrapped around a permeable core. As a purely passive device, it has less to go wrong than with an active amplifier. The possible points of failure due to too-exuberant burn-in would be the core, and the wire.

Unlike a phono cartridge, a stepup transformer does not need to maintain a permanent magnetic field, therefore temporary saturation should not cause problems. However, I wonder how effective saturation will be in the burn-in process, since saturation will remove signal amplitude variations that the transformer core "sees".

If the current pushed through the signal wire is too high for its diameter, the wire will melt. But the wire diameters used in a transformer are certainly bigger than in a phono cartridge. It isn't so likely that a line-level signal will damage the wire.

If you use the output of a power amp to drive the transformer, or connect the transformer to the AC mains, certainly the signal wires could be damaged.

As long as you make sure that the current level used in the break-in process doesn't exceed the current-handling abilities of the transformer's internal signal wire (which will be affected by load / termination as well as signal level), I doubt if anything nasty will occur.

BTW, a transformer is a bi-directional device. Normally feeding a signal into the primary windings (normal input) will cause a stepped-up signal of equivalent power (higher voltage, lower-current) to appear at the secondary windings (normal output). However, the transformer can also be connected back-to-front and used as a step-down transformer - if you feed a signal into the secondary windings, you will get a stepped-down signal output from the transformer primaries (output signal voltage will be the inverse of the transformer's stepup ratio).

Needless to say, the above can be utilized when burning in an MC transformer (in which case, don't forget to load the primary windings).

hth, jonathan carr

I just got a Zesto Alleso SUT from an indvidual on A'Gon that has virtually zero hours on it.  I am burning it in using the output of my PC and a Youtube white noise video turned way,way down.  I measure the output signal on my voltmeter at .5mv so I assume this will be OK.  I know that seems really low but the volume on my soundcard is set at 1 (1-100 scale) so it's as low as it goes w/o being completely mute.
Does this sound like it will be OK?
Thanks.
Ian