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

May-be....when this doesn't sound good on it....?...just sayin' on a Satnite into the Sunmorn...*s*

Whether it’s a tube audio component or solid state, it does take some time for the component to break in. Once it does the sound of the component will be based on the rest of your system. For example, a bright sounding amplifier may be a nice addition to a more laid back pair of speakers. However, a bright sounding speaker with a bright sounding amplifier will likely offer a sound that is too bright for most listeners. It’s all about synergy.

There is no useful answer to the question; circumstances vary greatly.  There is gear that I found instantly appealing, but, over a longer period of time my annoyance over faults grew to the point that I disliked it.  It does help to take enough time to assess something for its negative attributes.  If you don’t like something at the outset, it is harder to expect familiarity to improve things to the point where one would love it later.  But, it doesn’t hurt to again give it time.  Also, the sound of any component can be optimized in a system by making adjustments.  For example, one can change speaker placement to compensate for a negative change wrought by the new component; again, these experiments take time.

This weekend realized in one LP side that I don’t much like the Rothwell MDX I bought from MD last week. It’s a demo, from the looks well-traveled, so I doubt break in was the issue. Further listening confirmed my initial reaction. Requested a return today. Sometimes you just know.

@larryi time and patience is a new experience for me. Most components and changes have been instantly beneficial and no question headed in the right direction. The VDH was not that, right out of the gate. I guess I anticipated it taking the 1-2 hours to warm up and settled as stated in the manual, but that was not the case. By day 3 of being fully powered and left on, I was starting to understand the benefits of a solid state change. I guess it's been awhile since unboxing a piece of new equipment that took that long to settle in and develop. Even my newest speaker cables installed I saw an improvement, then it got even better over a few more days.  

@wrm57 i guess sometimes you just know huh? It probably depends on mood and last night after a day of food and drinks I just wasn't in the mood and knew it. Sometimes it's better to listen to yourself and just move on or take a break and come back later. The trials of time. 

I would like to circle back as The Grail has, in all honesty, settled in a lot better than I expected or have given it credit for. Depth has improved, timber for horns and strings have really come a long way. I can honestly say I'm pretty pleased with it so far. Detail retrieval is pretty amazing as well. Drawbacks are LP groove noise as it's holding nothing back and I won't say it's bright, but the upper frequencies on some songs are a little pointed and direct and I wish that was relaxed a little more. Also, voices are still slightly recessed. I figured I would give it a full 7 days before placing my Allnic back in place to compare and see where I go from here. In all honesty I could probably live with the VDH now, but I'm not sure if I prefer it to the Allnic in all facets. More patience was definitely needed on my part, but other equipment changes just provided more instantaneous changes so I was expected a step up and then progress from there. But we're in a good place now.