+ Reply to Thread
Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 21 to 30 of 35

Thread: Do I need a separate DAC...?

  1. #21
    leo's Avatar
    leo is offline Circuit Junkie & DIY Room Forum Leader
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Notts UK

    Posts: 1,805

    Default

    Your not imagining it, some conponents in the circuitry like capacitors don't perform at their best until they've gone through the forming process, this also affects the sound, it should carry on to improve for a little while longer
    Cheers,
    Leo

  2. #22
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: http://www.homehifi.co.uk

    Posts: 6,288

    Default

    The burn in period of my DACs is legendary in its own right, and one of the few cases where the burn in process can be demonstrated in action.

  3. #23
    Join Date: Apr 2009

    Location: Telford, UK

    Posts: 116
    I'm David.

    Default

    I don't think a burning in process exists. I think it's you appreciating it more as you become acclimatised to the sound.

  4. #24
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: http://www.homehifi.co.uk

    Posts: 6,288

    Default

    The burn in effect is quite easy to demonstrate, and does not require any special piece of equipment. Just take two brand new pieces of equipment, like two Caimans. Test them both for a very short period to confirm that they are sounding the same. THen put one of them away, whilst continuing to use the other one for say 50 hours. Dig out the other DAC and compare them. The differences will start to show up. Pack away the one DAC again and continue burning in the other for another 50 hours. Compare the two again, etc. After about 200 hours the differences are so obviously clear as night and day.

    If the non-believers in burn in would take the time to carry out this simple test on any two pieces of audio, or even video, equipment, they'll soon have egg all over their faces.

  5. #25
    Join Date: Feb 2010

    Location: Moved to frozen north, beyond Inverness

    Posts: 2,602
    I'm Dave.

    Default

    Stanley

    Very interesting. Of course most of us aren't in the privileged position of having several new versions of lots of kit to test out, and even affording just one might be a challenge in some cases. :-)

    Once burnt in, there are possibly other changes which may eventually lead to failure. I hope these take a lot longer than 200 hours, and are fixable in the case of the Caiman.

    bws
    Dave

  6. #26
    leo's Avatar
    leo is offline Circuit Junkie & DIY Room Forum Leader
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Notts UK

    Posts: 1,805

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by daveyboy View Post
    I don't think a burning in process exists. I think it's you appreciating it more as you become acclimatised to the sound.
    Thats almost like saying new shoes are not more comfy after bedding in

    You should read up about capacitors though, once you understand how they work it makes a lot of sense
    Cheers,
    Leo

  7. #27
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: Lancaster(-ish), UK

    Posts: 16,937
    I'm ChrisB.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dave2010 View Post
    Once burnt in, there are possibly other changes which may eventually lead to failure. I hope these take a lot longer than 200 hours, and are fixable in the case of the Caiman.
    I think that's a little disingenuous Dave

  8. #28
    MartinT Guest

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by daveyboy View Post
    I don't think a burning in process exists. I think it's you appreciating it more as you become acclimatised to the sound.
    You only have to trust your ears to know that that isn't true. All of my components have taken some time to burn-in, some more than others. The most extreme example was my old Sony SCD-1 SACD player, which took an age to settle and became much worse after new before it surpassed that sound quality to become very much better. It was all (painfully) audible and verified by several other SCD-1 owners.

    The process in speakers and electronic components is well documented, that in cables very much less so. It's all audible, though.

  9. #29
    Join Date: Sep 2009

    Location: France

    Posts: 3,209
    I'm notAlone.

    Default

    Davey is right, imho, in one thing: if you don't pay extreme attention, burn-in is not very noticeable for most solid-state electronics. There may be patent exceptions (like the SCD-1) which can be exacerbated (to the better or the worse) by the rest of the setup, but, as a whole, differences remain small.
    This is how I understand it.
    Dimitri.

    In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
    George Orwell

  10. #30
    Join Date: Feb 2010

    Location: Moved to frozen north, beyond Inverness

    Posts: 2,602
    I'm Dave.

    Default

    Leo

    Re capacitors, what type of capacitors are used in the sort of equipment we are talking about? Presumably electrolytics are used for power applications, but smaller capacitors may use other technologies. Which are the ones which make a difference in your opinion? Electrolytics do change with the polarising voltages, and apparently modern ones don't change too much and are at least usable after the initial period of use if the circuits lie dormant for quite a while, though whether they need to go through another burn in period after a while of being unused I don't know. I think however that these aren't the type which are being considered here. This page - http://tinyurl.com/a327e4 - has some very interesting details, with some being more accurate and temperature stable than others.

    Regarding one of my amps, which I thought was going off, one guy in a hi-fi shop suggested that some of the electrolytic capacitors were going out of spec or failing, but with my recently revised knowledge, that seems unlikely to me as a cause of the problems I thought it had - which were mainly a slightly rougher sound suggesting some imbalance somewhere in the circuitry.
    Dave

+ Reply to Thread
Page 3 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •