Caiman -- three weeks of burn-in

[magiccarpetride]

I'm married. My wife never moves anything. The bookcases are fixed to the walls, and the sofas might as well be.

Wow, that's fantastic! Where did you get such docile wife? Do they offer these features in the Russian Bride catalogue?

[Joe]

That's right, and you'd kick her ass if she tried!!

Marco.

Certainly not! The sofas are a two-person lift anyway. The other day, we were searching for some of Caroline's coursework that had gone astray, and we lifted the three-seater sofa, in case it had got under there. It hadn't, but we found an undeveloped roll of film that had gone missing after a holiday about three years ago.

We both 'suffer' from whatever the opposite of OCD is.

[Marco]

I am an unabashed subjectivist (read: I don't give a shit about objective factors in evaluating audio components).

Me neither! I think you'll fit in here nicely, Alex - in fact, you already have...

Marco.

[Joe]

Wow, that's fantastic! Where did you get such docile wife? Do they offer these features in the Russian Bride catalogue?

I succeeded in what most people would have said was impossible, and married someone even more laid-back than me.

[Marco]

Certainly not!

Hahaha - I was kidding!

Marco.

[magiccarpetride]

As for your views on details becoming more noticeable because of the likelihood that people get accustomed to the DAC ( I have condensed your essay to just a few words): you are misguided. The quick way to check that out is to take the DAC out of the audio chain and play back the same track(s). With and without the DAC in circuit it should be quite audible if the brain is being fooled or the ears are hearing a difference.

Also, as I've explained in other threads, if getting 'accustomed' is a viable explanation, how come I'm not getting accustomed with other components? It is only with the Caiman that I'm experiencing this dramatic improvement with the burn-in. With any other components I've purchased, there is invariably a short introductory period (maximum a couple of days), after which the component settles in and stops surprising me. But this DAC continues to surprise me even after four weeks of intense listening to it

[Joe]

Hahaha - I was kidding!

Marco.

I know! But Caroline's not someone to mess with. When she was a teenager, a bloke tried to snatch her handbag, and ended up with a broken wrist!

[magiccarpetride]

Err No, nor a likely customer if ever I want a DAC after your overly defensive post.

So let me see if I get this straight: we're all on a lookout for the best audio components we could afford, right? So let's say we come across a component that was built by a very crafty engineering team, and is very affordable, and just as we're about to take the plunge, we learn about some unpalatable (to us) personal traits of the guy who masterminded the component. We get into a bit of a verbal row with the guy, and then we swear off that component.

Childish?

[Joe]

I read of another audio designer that: 'He doesn't suffer fools gladly. Or at all'.

[Marco]

I know! But Caroline's not someone to mess with. When she was a teenager, a bloke tried to snatch her handbag, and ended up with a broken wrist!

Come on, if she was that tough she'd have been able to move the sofas all by herself!

Marco.