why performance increase after pause?

There's got to be something to this phenomenon.

This has been going on for decades. Back when I tried it, it even occurs on a reasonably warmed up CDP. And it only seems to effect the opening moments.

Sounds like a design flaw common to all lasers or the reading part of the laser as its implemented. Or something like that.

Better minds need to chime.

All the best,
Nonoise

Csontos --

Instead of pausing the playback try leaving your listening room without pausing playback for the same amount of time(though not to other noisy environments), and then return to see if it has the same effect on you. I play music from a harddrive(that is, RAM) -- no that this info may matter to the issue/subject at hand -- and I've repeatedly found that when playing longer sessions of music from my setup, with what I'd call "normal" listening levels, a momentary leaving the room gets my back to a slightly "invigorated" sound. A psychological effect, perhaps, or an indication maybe of my having listened too analytically for an extended period of time, which would then lead my ears/mind in the need of a brief "intermezzo" of absence/silence to "recuperate."

Unless you're playing at very loud volumes at the limit of your speakers capabilities I'd say heating up the voice coils to a more marginal temperature will only benefit the sound. My own speakers treasure being "shown the whip"(not in any way excessive) for an hour so, or even longer, after which they're more distinct, full, and clear sounding. This, mind you, has an effect even when my amp has been on for many hours(my DAC runs 24/7), and conversely when the SPL's have again been reduced to much lower background levels for an extended amount of time(hours), the character of the sound appears to have reverted into a more constricted "stasis."

I leave all my gear on 24/7. I have extensively experimented with the bias and offset pots of my amps. Another thing I've noticed is (all my amps are class A/B) that when I've checked the bias setting immediately after getting all the gear "cookin", it is a few mv. or ma. down from spec. After letting it idle for a few minutes, it's back up where it "should" be. Also, getting the bias absolutely equal on both channels causes the amp to idle cooler even if the setting is lower than spec. I have an example of all the Ampzillas except Godzilla, an Acoustat TNT 200, a pair of LSR&D Leach Superamp monos, a Perreaux 2150B all professionally rebuilt and functioning as new. They all behave the same way. Could it be a function of the bias current being initially at a higher level off idle causing this phenomenon? Oh, I also have a couple of Bedinis. The 100/100 I have is very tolerant of quiescent current level. I run this amp at the high end of it's range for obvious reasons. However the other amps are, when at peak, also within spec. But this is always measured at idle. Turning up the bias at idle to compensate the drop, off idle, could be a solution as they will all tolerate that slight increase. That is, if this is the reason for this whole anomaly. Impossible as a yardstick since doing so will not cause the behavior to cease.