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Why no “Break in” period?

If people say there’s a break in period for everything from Amps to cartridges to cables to basically everything... why is it with new power conditioners that people say they immediately notice “the floor drop away” etc.  Why no break in on that?

I’m not trying to be snarky - I’m genuinely asking.
tochsii
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 

OK, let's look at this another way.  Who turns on their Class A amp, immediately starts playing music and expects to hear optimal sound?

While I don't go nearly as far down the road as @millercarbon, the initial response was perfectly reasonable: a new component, any new component, swopped into a system is more likely than not to produce a different sonic presentation, better, worse, or just different.  After "settling", there are likely to be further changes, typically less radical than those initially noted.

All the rest is an argument that has stretched over dozens and dozens of recent threads.

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Prof, very eloquent. 
After all this nobody has given us a proven reason why a purely electronic device needs to "break in" after the manufacturer's burn in. 
Most of us who do not believe in electronic's breaking in do so because there is not a viable reason why they should. 
Prof has noted that it is easy to hear minor differences in real time like when he is adjusting a mix. Otherwise it is not so easy. You can not remember a sound. You remember your characterization of that sound, a very low resolution method. Try remembering the sound of a particular instrument without having a picture of that instrument pop into your head.
Only superior individuals like millercarbon can do this. The way we characterize sounds is not accurate enough to make fine distinctions  on a remote basis. We can all tell the difference between a cat meow and a dog bark. Can you tell the difference between two Siamese cats or two German Shepards on a remote basis?
It is impossible to approach this enterprise without bias. I dislike unipivot tonearms. My rational may or may not be legitimate but it is certainly viable and I am not alone in that thinking. There are many who believe electronic equipment breaks in sonically. I wish someone could give me a viable reason why. In reality the only reason they have is that they have heard it on a remote basis and as Prof eluded, that is purely subjective and we are not good enough at characterizing sounds we have heard to make that distinction accurately.  

Mke
jea48
4,512 posts
 
After all this nobody has given us a proven reason why a purely electronic device needs to "break in" after the manufacturer’s burn in.


after the manufacturer’s burn in.

"after the manufacturer’s burn in." ????

For what purpose would a manufacture need to "burn in" a piece of electronic equipment, wasting his/her time and money for such a purpose?

Circuitry adjustments yes..... "Burn in", though?? Again for what purpose?

What is meant by "forming" of an electrolytic capacitor?



andy2
1,555 posts
 
Politely attacking somebody is still attacking.  It seems like millercarbon has received a lot of that, not that I am agreeing or disagreeing with him.  Hiding under the umbrella of "politeness" is not going to cut it with me.  
jl35
4,058 posts
 
some manufacturers do burn-in their components or cables before shipping...I know my Zu speakers will have about 100 hours burn in, and I see longer on their more expensive speakers...
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