Warming up your gear.

Is there anyway one can warm their gear up without having to wait?

???

Serious question as it seems it takes some thirty to forty-five minutes for the gear to warm up before it's listenable and that sure takes the spontaneity out of the listening experience.

"Gee, I'll think I'll listen to some tunes."

jjinh wrote

PS wrong forum

???

Uncle Erik wrote:

You could try turning the gear on as soon as you get home from work. Then you could listen if the mood strikes or turn it off before bed.

Thanks for the above idea.  The problem is, after turning on the DAC/Amp, I still need to run a signal through the sound card.  The sound card needs at least a half-hour of actual playtime to open up.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

krmathis wrote:

Well, if it takes 45 minutes it takes 45 minutes. Unless you use an external heater of course, like putting it in the stove...

Sounds like I need to leave it in a terrarium between usages.  Being the eternal optimist, I was hoping for some sort of magical suggestion that would negate the obvious.

(Now where's that crying emoticon?)

AudioDwebe wrote:

Does it hurt anything to leave it all powered up, with music playing through and volume down?

Thanks for the thought, but unfortunately, electricity in this area is uber expensive as we're on a tiered pricing schedule.  The more you use, the more you're charged.

I was also under the impression that leaving gear on burns-out the electronics inside.

???

IPodPJ wrote:

Your sound card takes 45 minutes to open up?  Are you serious?  Only Class A gear requires warm up time.

It sure does.  The Xonar STX sound card sounds flat, uninvolving and lacks dynamics and sound quality is muddled before warming up.  I also have to turn the volume up to compensate for how weak the initial signal is.  As the sound card warms up, I find the need to turn the volume down.  It's kind of frustrating to turn things on, let them warm up, and realize I didn't run any music through the sound card as now, I have to take the headphones off, play at least twenty minutes worth of music through them, before I can put the headphones back on again.

Last night I let the DAC/Amp warm up, but forgot to play some music through the sound card and had to take the headphones off again.  As the sound card was warming up, I had to turn the volume down four or five times as the sound card warmed up.  This is a big pain because, due to room restrictions, the Amp is on the floor under the computer table and I have to climb under the table to turn the Amp up or down.

Brian_the_King wrote:

it sounds like you have a defective card....

Thanks for the though.  It may be defective but as far as a computer sound card goes, once warmed up, it sounds pretty darn good.  Nothing sounds out of place as to sound quality.  No distortions that I can lay my ears on.  It just needs time to warm up and then it works fine.  It's always been this way.  Currently using it as a transport out of the computer to the off-board DAC and Amp.

Uncle Erik wrote:

Beeman, is your computer on all the time, or do you turn it on when you plan to listen?

The computer is off when I'm not here, then it's turned on.  But even though the computer is on, the sound card needs to be used in order for it to come up to speed.  If I don't use it, the electronics cool down, even though the computer is on.  Not as much as when the computer is off so it easily comes back up to speed when I start listening again.

When the computer is first turned on, it takes the system a half hour, maybe forty-five minutes to fully come up to speed.  When I start listening again, mid-computer session, after putting the headphones down for a break, it take a bit more than five minutes for the card to open back up.

???

Right now, all the pieces are on, the headphones are sitting to my side as I'm playing music through the headphones to let things warm up.