Break in period

After reading this thread I am surprised that there are still those out there that adhere to the idea that break-in does not exist.

Some years back we looked into the phenomena to try to figure out what was going on. As a manufacturer I can tell you that we hear break-in all the time- the question was what was causing it. Here's what we found:

built up, one of our units has specific power supply voltages. After break-in (6 months), the unregulated power supplies will measure slightly higher. So something in the power supplies gets more efficient. The appearance is two-fold: filter caps seem to operate more efficiently, although they are 'formed' at the factory. However after break-in the current inrush at turn-on is lower! The other appearance is the transformers themselves, which have substantial lengths of copper wire in them- which has a measureable break-in: lower resistance.

Resistors do not appear to break-in.

Film caps do! -and their qualities in this regard vary according to dielectric and manufacturer. Oddly, we have seen a lot of comments about the V-Cap Teflon (probably the best coupling cap out there right now) breaking in, but we do not find that there is a break-in with it of any significance, which seems to be common with other Teflons we've used. What *does* seem to happen is that the installation of the part can disturb other elements and the part itself is so transparent that it reveals that easily.

Wire does seem to break-in. Copper in particular- silver does too but is much faster break-in, although they both ultimately arrive at the same place if the silver is pure and the copper is pure, and both are installed with correct attention to details of use specific to each.

In all cases, the results are measurable and audible, in this way confirming their reality and not some sort of myth.

Break-in has nothing to do with the quality of components

I have nothing more I can say to those who claim dramatic audible break-in changes, which can drive people nearly nuts, have nothing to do with the design "quality" of components; I beg to differ on what constitutes "quality" that's all.

Tube components take much less to warm up and or break in opposed to solid state.. However the real problem is not the topology used its the Capacitors.. The super tight teflon whiz bang Caps take some time to open up.. The oil caps take a little less, in between cheap caps are somewhere between those two on time to sound right... But all caps seem to be a little better with some age on them. Wire, Resistors etc.. Especially Tubes "Burning in" is more or less B.S. Although Can agree with above tubes can change character and smooth out with a few hours on them.
By the way this is just my own opinion on testing the waters and following things after changing out and modifying components.. Mostly it seems to lay claim for true when Speaker drivers or capacitors are involved, they do change and sound better with time.

Shadorne, could you tell us what you mean by 'quality of components', and could you give us some actual examples of high end gear you personally experience did not benefit from break in?

hi marakanetz:

it sometimes happens that the sound of a component changes with time in such a manner that you prefer its presentation before it has received a signal, in comparison to its presentation after it has 100 + hours.

i have experienced both improvement and degredation, following "break-in".

be careful. do not judge a component too soon, especially during a home audition.

another way of looking at "break-in" is as establishing a link between components. as an example, consider interconnect cables. when a cable interfaces a cd player and a preamp. a link is established between three components. if the link is broken after the cable has 100+ hours and the cable is placed between a second cd player and preamp, it may be necessary to establish a new link by running a signal between the cable and the "new" components.