Posted by profbrookes (A) on December 12, 2008 at 06:26:02

In Reply to: RE: Break in Time - Dac 2.1 posted by Lizard_King on December 11, 2008 at 17:26:41

I still have the original tubes that were sent with the kit - I think they were JJ Tesla but couldn't swear to it. I've had no complaints about the sound so have never thoght about changing them.

It's difficult to say for sure how long break-in will take - especially if you switch it off between sessions. It will seem like forever but once it's done you won't look back.

Here is what I put in my review as an update:

"I am now up to 750 hours of analog board 'on' time. The only time the sound truly suffered in any way was in the 50-100 hour region. Then, the Lower midrange seemed to fall apart a little and bass got a little sloppy. Also, the upper frequencies (lower treble) became a little more typically aggressive (for digital) although the detail itself did not suffered.

After that initial 'glitch' the music began slowly solidify and work as a whole. That's one of the things I have noticed about Black Gates in the past - during burn-in, you tend to notice holes and emphasis on specific frequencies. A hole appears here and a certain band becomes over emphasised. In time however, these disappear and the music can no longer be described in these terms anymore because the music comes through as a whole. That is exactly what started to happen."

Of course I'm now several thousand hours into it and am more than happy with it - although I'd love to hear the transformer coupled version!