breaking in a dac

thanks for all the responses, guys. i'm supposed to get delivery of my new toy on monday, next (we'll see). i'm having it fitted with an st glass input, so i can take advantage of the matching optimized output on my accuphase dp 90, which i'll still be using for now. i'll also use some accrotec or trara six nines coax into the boulder's special adapter for it's aes/ebu inputs, so i can toggle between the inputs remotely. yes, this is my christmas gift to myself. -kelly

bob: one of many really neat things the 1012 does is to power OFF the digital section power supply and transformer when the analog section power supply and transformer is powered ON (the line stage, obviously, is always on). so, yeah, you're right about my needing to separately break in the digital and phono stage sections of this piece. FWIW, there's an excellent review of the 1012 in the 12/01 issue of s'phile (don't agree with mr. scull's views on the dcs gear but, hey, it's all subjective, eh).

dan: thanx. now if i can just figure out how to arrange a "permanent loan" of a couple of a-50v's, i'll be closer to nirvana.

-cfb

bob: i figure i'll leave the pre/dac on 24/7, switched to the digital mode. even if i listen to a couple or three hours of lp's, the dac shouldn't be "stone cold." moreover, the line stage, which is likely more critically acclimated by warmup, will not have been cooled down atoll. just a guess, but i'll talk to bruce vanallen to get his views. let you know if my presumptions are wrong. i do, of course, appreciate your comments, as always. -cfb

sean: i spoke to bruce vanallen at boulder amps about your and bob's interesting question. he gave me an explanation, tho i'm not sure i have a sufficient grasp of the technical argot to communicate it. but here goes my attempt: the analog section of the 1012 is always on, as is that portion of the digital motherboard used to powerup and control the display. thus, the digital and analog motherboadrs are always in a "warmed-up" mode. the boards are optically and mechanically isolated to assure there is no deleterious "cross-talk." the dsp, which is in its own shielded portion of the chassis, is powered on only when a digital input is selected. the dsp requires virtually no warmup, according to bruce. i hope this all makes sense. it did when bruce communicated it to me.

-kelly

ps- bruce sent me an email this am, saying my 1012 was on his desk and offering to deliver it today. now that's service! my dealer's sales manager (who lives in boulder) picked it up. i'll hafta wait 'til tomorrow am to get my hands on it. avalanche hockey on the menu tonite. -cfb