How Soon Do You Realize You Don't Like a Piece of Gear?

I love all gear.  The only time I change is when I hear something that I like better.  It is getting harder to find big improvements for me these days. But some lower priced budget items are now coming to the market.  The line magnetics 22wpc tube integrated amp for $4800 comes to mind and the new reveal speakers for $5000 are outstanding compared to many higher priced items. 

I went through the same experience with a Grail and ended up going back to Tubes with a Herron and it was shocking how much better I liked the Herron over the Grail so I understand your point.  Good luck on your decision.

I had the same experience changing power amps.  I believe you will have an initial impression right out of the box.  If you're not  "neutral" right out of the box, break-in won't move you to positive.  Just my experience.  Moving from tubes to SS is difficult for most.  I know it was for me.  Just saying.  

In the end I did move out of tube power amps (because of cost & heat) but ended up adding a tube pre back in the chain.  

Trust your ears!!!  

@cfarrow how long did you allow yours in your system? And there was so little information on The Grail, two or three reviews and one or two Agon threads so it was a blind experience. I may be too far into tubes, but again I'm going to allow it to settle for a few more days. 

 Can anyone explain in layman terms what happens during the run in process?

@testrun that's exactly what I was running from, the summer heat and tubes. My room is small is get overwhelmed with heat very easily. I have class D Atma-sphere's and I absolutely love them, I might just be forced to run tubes on the front end. A Nagra dealer told me to check out the VPS and very low heat as he winked.