Thanks for reminding people about break-in periods. I know most people discount that/don’t believe it. Nonetheless, it IS a reality with any kind of new equipment, although a mass-market integrated/speaker/electronics would very likely require less time.
And assessing the upstream components after getting a new component with fewer compromises is also something people don’t seem to consider.
The same thing occurs in photography, when getting a larger format camera ( 2 1/4 format or large format) showed those who had only previously used 35 mm SLR that their 8 x 10 enlargements from 35 mm format were distorting information and actually subtracting details, but this was only apparent when someone placed a 35 mm 8 x 10 enlargement alongside a medium format (2 1/4) or large format camera 8 x 10 enlargement and could see the differences side by side. If you didn’t have experience with a larger format camera (and larger enlargements from the negative), an 8 x 10 photograph enlarged from a slide would look perfectly fine to most peoples’ naked eye. The side-by-side comparison, even then, wasn’t immediately obvious to the untrained eye, but when the differences were pointed out by someone knowledgeable, it became clear what was missing (usually very fine details in hair, eyelashes, eyebrow, pores of the skin, or, if it was landscape photography, the textures of leaves, or plants) to the more novice photographer.
Audio is like that, too.
P.S. I have to say, I'm heartened by all the posts reminding about break-in and making sure that the previous components in the system are not responsible for what someone hears with their newer (and presumably better) components. I don't see that much in forums nowadays.
