Can an unused cable break in?

Hi @rvpiano ,

I have a similar experience with my Chord Qutest DAC.
I run it (using my computer as transport) for about 200 hours.
It was connected to computer through USB to SPDIF adapter, because I use DAC with CD transport connected by SPDIF in my system.
So, after this 200 hours break in period Qutest DAC sounded OK but with some drawbacks. During next month I listened it a few hours, but it was always plugged in.
And when after this month I did a critical listening again I was shocked how sound had be changed! All drawbacks I had listened before were disappeared!

Regards,
Alex.

Jea48,

I really don’t know what the switch controls.
The unit is about 3-4 years old.

@jea48 -  That you were able to even hint at things, such as wave-particle duality, dielectric permittivity and a, "conductor" actually being a wave-guide, without being assailed (thus far) by the resident pseudoscientists, is fascinating.                                                                                        KUDOS!

One of the things that is different about power cords vs ICs and speaker cables is there is always voltage present as long as power is supplied whether or not the device is turned on. If the dielectric is the primary thing that burns in, it seems to me it is the capacitive property of the cable that is affected and current shouldn't matter. What say ye?

I say ye R OTL. A medieval term invented by the Duke of Sandwich meaning "out to lunch": not all there.    

Voltage is a differential. It is in other words measured between two things. Across a circuit. Without which (a complete circuit) there is no voltage, no amperage, no capacitance, no nothing. (Try buying a meter that can read voltage, resistance, capacitance, inductance- you name it - without being connected to anything.) 

Yet another way to think of it, your imaginary voltage, which of the conductors is it "on"? A 120V circuit (there's that word again!) consists of one black "hot" wire and one white neutral wire. Normally voltage is measured across the black and white. But there is in principle no reason it cannot be measured across black and ground. Same 120V either way. But what about white/neutral to ground? Where is your 120V? Not there! So where is the voltage? Not there.  

MC, the parasitics complete the circuit. There are effectively small distributed capacitors along the length of the cable from line to neutral, line to ground, and neutral to ground. For a 2m power cable I would guess these would be in the neighborhood of hundreds of pfs.

My serious question still is as long as the cable is plugged in to AC, and these parasitic capacitors (caused by the insulating material as well as the cable geometry) are being charged and discharged why would the component need to be turned on in order to break in the cable? This is assuming the dielectric is the primary reason for the break in.

If a large current is required is required to break in a power cable it suggests a more complex reason for break in, perhaps one involving the metallurgy of the wire.