Interconnect Break In?

Great discussion lots of fun it's what life is all about.there are alot of smart people on this forum I enjoy the mental stimulation.thanks

Me too. A lot of great ideas. I appreciate so many people taking the time to share their experiences and knowledge!

I don't know, but my power cords had to break-in to sound smoother, why not   interconnects. Logically the gear has to be on for any break-in to occur. You know, the electrons have to find their shortest signal path and components have to settle in. 

I’ve pursued high end audio for fifty years. I have spent hundreds of hours comparing high end audio interconnects, speaker wires and power cords. Breaking is substantial and not in your head. 150 to 200 hours is very typical. I find a couple components I can have on… both ends. I have an extra system that I can put in wires and break in… I always go for the highest power end… like if I have phono stage interconnects I’ll use between the preamp and amp to break in. 

Does the preamp need to be on?

As @ozzy said there needs to be signal passing from the source to a load. Load is the Preamp in this case. Naturally the preamp would need to have the input selected for the CDP.

Could the preamp be set to the input the CDP is connected to and then be powered off? Depends on the preamp. Some preamps use relays or some other type of source switching device other than a mechanical input switch. do you know what you have?

As for break-in, burn-in, settle-in, what ever you want to call it, it’s not just the wire that burns-in. The RCA plugs need to burn-in.  The dielectric, insulating material that cover the bare wire needs to burn-in, settle-in as well. The signal energy actually travels in the space between the wires through the dielectric.