burn in - how important?


Over the years following Agon forums I have read many postings about burn in and been fairly sceptical, as many items I have bought over the years have changed SQ very little or at all, after years of use. Recently I replaced my Rogue Stereo 90 with a used EAR 534 power amp. Out of the box it looked brand new, all nice and shiny. I plugged it into my also fairly recently acquired Aesthetix preamp and was horrified by the thin sound, little or no soundstage and was relieved I hadn't yet sold the Rogue. Now I knew why it had been up for sale or did I. Maybe I was too lazy to plug in the Rogue again but I left the EAR in place and after about 30 hours I noticed a difference, more depth, wider soundstage, Now after about 100 hours - WOW huge soundstage, both depth and width. great tight bass, shimmering highs. Now I know why Tim De Paravicini was regarded as a genius and sorry for the seller who probably had not given the unit a chance to burn in properly. I decided to biwire it into my ML Vantage speakers and cut out the second Acurus a250 amp which I was using in biamped format. There was hardly any difference, maybe quieter and more detailed overall. Who would have thought an EL 34 based 55wpm channel Class A amp could drive a pair of electrostatic hybrid speakers rated at 4ohms. OK no longer a sceptic about burn in but a firm believer. What has been your experience?

128x128mazian

My experience with "burn-in" has been variable as some equipment changes more than others with extended use. I installed a new set of PS Audio M1200 mono amps a couple months ago and those have evidenced more changes with time than any component I've used in the last forty years. They sound remarkably different than they did on first installation. My previous PS Audio BHK250 didn't change all that much with extended use. 

The Rogue amps get very little credit for some reason.  Strictly on sound they can hold their own with more costly and seemingly higher regarded products. 

Burn in does matter- more so for solid state for some reason in my experience.  After a week of use or so it should be mostly there.   

Experiencing this at very moment with Psvane Acme 300B, just starting to open up around 75 hours. Amps and speakers the biggest hassle as you actually have to pass signal which means having music going many hours of day, and not with intention of listening or with highest sound quality.

 

Per verdantaudio, it is the heating and cooling cycle that's responsible for much of burn in. Certainly true for forming of capacitors, EML states tube burn in forms tubes in like manner.