Wyred 4 Sound STI-500 Breakin Time

Some great comments, thanks. Here is some additional detail:

I now have about 100Hrs on the STI-500 and just beginning to get the detail that I got with the BADA amp and preamp. I was really sweating it after paying the price for the STI500 but the reviews have been soo good and the DAC1 was terrific.

Interconnects are balanced from the DAC2 to the STI500 using Morrow cables - I believe they are the M1.1 balanced. They were spectacular from the DAC1 to the BADA preamp. Made a huge difference over the other cables I was using.

I have Magnepan 1.7s which provide amazing detail and let me know about every change in the system.

I have my fingers crossed but I am beginning to hear the music open up. It never sounded bad, just not detailed. In fact, I find the STI500 warmer than the BADA which had a hybrid tube/transistor preamp. Who would have guessed?

I will be checking the settings on the DAC2 but believe I have them correct.

How long did your STI take to break in?

I am not sure but as I was also breaking in my speakers Dynaudio S1.4 at the same time. The whole system (STI-500, and Dyn S1.4) took about 200 hours before they sounded their best.

However, I also find that the STI-500 takes about half an hour to "warm" from standby to play well. It can sound cold, and hard, soundstage flat for the first half hour.

Source is an Audiolab 8200CDQ similar to the W4S DAC2.

Cheers

Good point. STI-500 only uses 10...15W stand-by. It could be turned on 24/7.

I do leave the W4S STI500 on all the time. Just turn down the volume. Leaving the volume turned up on the STI500 has met with very little enthusiasm in my home!

Actually seen on some threads to let the system "rest" for a few hours. Every 4th or 5th night I power it all down only to turn it on the next morning and leave it on for several days.

I run music from a music server (NETGEAR 9150) into the DAC2 continuously. Everything is now opening up, much more three dimensional. I would almost say it is nearing the peak of what I was getting with the BADA amp and preamp. Except that the STI500 at louder volumes is very relaxed and the BADA was sounding stressed.

The BADA ran in Class A for the first 10 watts which was very clean and clear. With the W4S DAC and Magnepan 1.7s, I have changed my listening habits to a very low to moderate level. The clarity of the system is so good that in the past, I had to turn it up to get the same level of detail and visceral enjoyment of the music.

I would say the sweet spot in overall improvements has been happening in the approximately 60-100 hours of break in. I hope to hear some additional improvements over the next 100 hours but don't anticipate anything as radical as the first 100 hours.

You guys realize that other than in a few audio magazines and online at sites like this, no one else believes that electronics have to "Break in." Try having a conversation at work about this.

I also have the DAC2 directly driving the ST-500 via balanced. I think you may need more than 100 hrs for the DAC2 to burn in. Also after some time you can tweak the STI by changing the two fuses on the modules. There is one on each. I changed mine with the PS-audio fuses and got smoother yet very detailed upper end. From my experience also a good power cable later will benefit both the amp and DAC2, specially the DAC. I changed mine nearly after many months but I got a big step up in soundstage expansion.

Good luck.