Break-In Necessary on New CD Player?

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I can directly talk to this because I have had the same Onkyo DX 7555 for almost a year and a half. It is a fantastic, warm CD player. I have not been dissapointed by its performance. I do however feel guilty as it is the most money that I have spent on gear. I often wonder if I should have gone used.

At any rate, it does not sound any different to me after one and half years of moderate use. There are many days and sometimes a week or two that I do not have the opportunity to listen to CDs then there may be a couple of days when that is all I do while working at home.

Now, here is the real kicker, and I would like you to stay in touch with me and let me know if this happens to you. Sometimes, instead of just changing to the next song on a CD, it will just go the end of the last song of the play list, as indicated by the digital display. It will then stop playing as if the entire disk has been played. This seems to be random. I have to get up and manually start the CD again, at the beginning of the song that it skiped over. It will then play through normally from that point on. Weird eh? It does not happen frequently. If there are any suggestions out there I would appreciate it.

DK

DK
 
go buy some dynamicap capacitors and put them in your speakers. Now tell me the sound does not change after about 75-100 hours of use.
I would think the higher end gear would actually be affected more as they more then likely use more film caps.
 
I can directly talk to this because I have had the same Onkyo DX 7555 for almost a year and a half. It is a fantastic, warm CD player. I have not been dissapointed by its performance. I do however feel guilty as it is the most money that I have spent on gear. I often wonder if I should have gone used.

At any rate, it does not sound any different to me after one and half years of moderate use. There are many days and sometimes a week or two that I do not have the opportunity to listen to CDs then there may be a couple of days when that is all I do while working at home.

Now, here is the real kicker, and I would like you to stay in touch with me and let me know if this happens to you. Sometimes, instead of just changing to the next song on a CD, it will just go the end of the last song of the play list, as indicated by the digital display. It will then stop playing as if the entire disk has been played. This seems to be random. I have to get up and manually start the CD again, at the beginning of the song that it skiped over. It will then play through normally from that point on. Weird eh? It does not happen frequently. If there are any suggestions out there I would appreciate it.

DK

DK

DK - I will pay attention over the coming months and let you know if I experience any similar problems. Thanks for the input.
 
Yes, caps, internal wiring dielectrics and components need a burn-in period to sound their best. I've heard that Bryston burns-in the stuff they sell for 100 hours before shipping to customers and showrooms...
 
Yes, caps, internal wiring dielectrics and components need a burn-in period to sound their best. I've heard that Bryston burns-in the stuff they sell for 100 hours before shipping to customers and showrooms...

Sounds like quality control to me, not breaking it in 'cause it needs to be broken in.
 
Yes, caps, internal wiring dielectrics and components need a burn-in period to sound their best. I've heard that Bryston burns-in the stuff they sell for 100 hours before shipping to customers and showrooms...

Good thing, too... since a lot of modern crap barely LASTS 100 hours.:rolleyes:
 
PhilC,

Thanks. I will look forward to what you discover.

Another, piece of gear that is though to be greatly affected by burn in is headphones. I bought a pair of AK 701s. Yes, another expensive piece of equipment that I purchased while suffering from "noob-o-mania". Every review on the headphones describes exactly how many hours of break in they need before they sound "warm", but then they sound beautiful. Like an idot I purchased them because I wanted to listen music at night. I was so new that I did not understand what "open back" meant. The headphones are indeed wonder but I still can not listen to music at night. I have to use my Sony MDR-V250s for that, 10-time less expensive and still very nice.

DK
 
When I got my amp repaired, the tech held on to it for a while to burn it in.

My new Oppo keeps sounding better and better.
 
Sounds like quality control to me, not breaking it in 'cause it needs to be broken in.

I bought a Jolida tube CD player back in the summer. When you order one new, it takes several days for them to ship it as they do one final quality control check AND allow the unit to, in their words, burn in. I never understood why there's so much controversy about this, it makes sense. As someone here just said, capacitors, dielectric on the internal wiring, and integrated circuits all take time to "settle in" and sound their best.

Take op-amps, for example. I have a new headphone amp that uses a dual DIP op-amp, and for fun I've been trying all kinds of different ones to see how it affects the sound, if at all. My routine begins with listening to the headphone amp with it's current op-amp, then switching over to the new op-amp and listening to the same music. I then leave the headphone amp on over night hooked up to a burn in device. When I first install the new op-amp, the sound typically changes for the worse, often a little bright and harsh compared to what was in there previously. When this is the case, however, a night or two of being left on with the burn in device (or just hooking up any source would work too) always results in a much different, better sound. Now consider how many parts like this there are in a typical component, like a CD player.
 
Break-in is only indicated if it is a very popular model, and it is visible through one of your windows from the outside.
 
Break-in

I totally agree. I have been listening for years and i love it. However i believe there is reason to discuss. Being dissmissive is what you should have done rather than respond to something to discount another's opinion. I have had cd players all apart. One extra twist of a screw on some of these machines and you have a change. Noticeably noisier or quieter etc. Things are constantly changing. This is a complex issue and a nice one.
 
Me personally, I've never heard any piece of gear change in sound over any length of time, unless it was getting so worn out it was ready to take a shit or something and was not operating up to spec.

It's a good thing too, because I'd sure hate it if I bought a piece of gear that I thought sounded excellent right out of the box, and then knew it wasn't going to stay that way, it was going to change later...possibly even for the worse, as the chance would seem 50/50 for sounding better or worse.

It sure seems like it would be hard to select gear, if you listened to it, but believed that wasn't going to be the final sound after "break in". I guess that may be where reviews come in handy I suppose.
 
G'day all, this is an interesting one as I've recently purchased an excellent NAD C 515BEE CD player to replace my aging (but still operational) mid 1980's NAD unit.

One interesting thing that I did notice with the new NAD was that when it was brand new, would did 'skip' badly on some scratched CD's that I have, however with additional use, those CD's no longer 'skip', but just emit a 'click' on playback.

I would venture a guess that the playback laser has 'broken in' or stabilised in some way. Sonically, nothing has changed. Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
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Felix,
Here we are 5 years later.. has there been any change for you soundwise if you still have your c515bee? I would say these may be good with 50hrs or less. Cant really say for sure because mine was not new either but i have an idea it was not used much. I dont think i have heard much change. However, i do notice some various players binding up a bit when the grease gets old and hardens up or disappears. I think these things that have plastic sliding on plastic and metal sliding on metal need a little refreshing from time to time and i have heard a drop of oil on the spindle shaft can help keep things smooth. Not sure if smooth equals better sound, but it may.
 
Breaking in a CD player sounds like hogwash to me. There aren't any physical parts that need breaking in. It's not like a speaker or a shoe.

People should learn not to comment topcs where they have no clue. Everything needs some kind of break-ins, moore or less, CD-players are no exeption. Art. K`s reply gives a good picture
 
Unpack it, plug it in, turn it on, drop in a CD and enjoy it...

Maybe it will sound better later, maybe it won't. Why worry about it? Just enjoy it...


Was going to say exactly this but I'll +1 instead.

Whether it needs break-in or not is irrelevant. Plug it in and listen. If you don't like the sound at first, give it a couple of weeks and reassess.
 
What I was getting at is: yes there is a need to break some things in but this here 515bee is not one that needs much in my opinion. Therefore if you are wanting to get a player you may not have to let play constantly for 4 weeks like say that esoteric, the nad may be an option for those impatient types. Of course the 516 is out now with supposedly a different drive (sony again?) So who knows if it will be the same. Maybe Felix can add some wisdom. But either way I like to hear peoples perceptions in detail and dont believe much doesnt matter. Some of this equipment is exacting and so are some of our people
 
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