Hi Zd542, The vincent cd-s7 that I have has tube gold plated tube sockets, I am at 134 hours of burn-in on the modded Krell 700cx, and I have 534 hours of burn-in on the vincent player, and of course all my cables are re-burning in as well, the krell sounds different!, totally better, the treble is the best I have ever heard from a amp at any cost, griainless pure bliss, 1 year and a couple of weeks is a long time Zd542 to be without high-end tunes, I have more hours on the vincent from useing it thru the tube dedicated headphone amp that is on the player to burn-in the Tara Cobalt power cord and do critical listening of the power cord, Zd542, Do you own any tube products?, cheers.