2. amps-preamps
  3. 167165-159739

Amplifier Break-in - It's Real

I just completed a major amplifier upgrade from using the power amp side of a NAD 375BEE integrated to a Coda No. 8 and can swear to reality of a necessary amplifier break-in period and the need for a great degree of patience. For the record the 375BEE is a great integrated and the power amplifier side is very good. I replaced the preamp some time ago with a Freya+, a significant upgrade. Regardless, the 375BEE has some limitations and I "needed" an upgrade. I have severe space restrictions for my gear/rack, so size mattered, and final candidates were Bryston and a latecomer in the Coda 8. The Coda had such great reviews/comments I went with it.

Days 1, 2 and 3 were pretty frustrating and I was concerned. My NAD setup had a very good sound stage and rich bass, neither of these were evident early on with the Coda. I thought it might be an impedance mismatch with the Freya (75 SE or 600 balanced ohm output) and the Coda. Some online specs show the Coda at a very low 1K Ohm input impedance, however before I bought I checked with Coda and they confirmed it is actually 10K ohms. Still I swapped out the new balanced cables for RCA's, no significant change. For the first few days I was turning on the amp in the morning and running it all day, but off at night. I decided to have patience, accept the need for break-in, and just start running 24/7. Lo and behold about three days into that process, during which I found some new respect for electronica, the sound stage and bass started to appear and have only improved. It was uncanny. IMHO there was no way I was imagining this change because contrast was so great from the NAD when I first plugged the Coda into the system. I know my system well and changed nothing else, aside from the noted interconnects, from one amp to the other. I realize I am mostly preaching to the choir, but am writing for the next person that plugs a new amp in and does not hear what they expect right away.

In case it matters, the rest of the system is KEF LS50, Gumby DAC, REL 7i sub and Pi 4 with Allo DigiOne running Moode.
zlone
rodman99999
6,171 posts
 
       "My guess is you would chew through the math pretty easily."

     Funny, you'd say that!    It was the Math that chewed me up, in Physics.    I pretty much suck; as regards remembering formulae.

     Still: figuring out how and why things work, was always a fascination.

     I found QM and QED much easier to grasp.  Slippery as they both are, they still always made more sense, to me.      When it comes to such as frequencies, particle nomenclatures/behavioral study, etc; no problem.  I find the explanations easily digestible*.

     After all: virtually every new invention, that we've enjoyed for the past century, has been a result of QM/QED study.   HEY: they work!

      Most have trouble, when trying to figure out how all this craziness functions, because they want it to make sense.    That's been the scientific debate, since the 1927, Solvay Conference.  So: we're in good company!

      The basic premise of QM is: almost nothing really makes sense.   
                              (Fits my psyche, perfectly!)

             https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-03793-2

             https://www.nature.com/articles/419117a
                                                                                                                        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applications_of_quantum_mechanics

       When I encounter seemingly abstract, but (to me) audible, phenomena such as electronic burn/break-in, whether cables and fuses can make a difference, etc; I realize that there are a plethora of things, still not defined, let alone measured, in our MOST complex musical signals and a multitude of possibilities, based on what I know (or don't, yet).

            *Ditto: the workings of General and Special Relativity (again: minus the Higher Math).

                     Happy listening and enjoy the journey!
rodman99999
6,171 posts
 
"...Nothing like that could possibly be happening in terms of adaptation to sound over time. No, we are much more consistent than electronics. You wills say that changes to internal parts are the cause. I have made challenges to that argument."
     "To consider the influence of sensory adaptation to have no involvement is circular reasoning. It changes because I hear it! I hear it, so it's obviously changing! I used to be like that.  :)"

       Isn't it interesting how our understanding of the senses has been evolving, based on further study?      ie:  Seems our noses may actually hear the frequencies, generated by the chemical bonds in molecules.

       It's probably why Cyanide and almonds smell the same.   Though their molecules are completely different; their frequencies are identical.

        https://physicsworld.com/a/a-quantum-sense-of-smell/

        https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21150046

       Click on the thing about, "birds hijacking quantum physics" (in second article), also.

https://phys.org/news/2011-01-quantum-robins.html#:~:text=In%20a%20forthcoming%20article%20in,levels....

                           Fascinating stuff, all around us!
panzrwagn's avatar
panzrwagn
559 posts
 

@millercarbon Yes indeed, things do cut both ways, and maybe a third: just because you hear it doesn't mean anyone else will.

More to discover