Do you warm up your headphones?
Jun 15, 2013 at 6:24 PM Post #76 of 80
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Are you sure it is not just your perception of the sound though? I am not sure that there is any actual reason that solid state amps need to warm up. I think tube amps need to get warm but I am not sure about solid state or dacs.

 
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There's an old and popular myth in the audiophile community with SS amps, especially class A amps, that sound gradually improves after being on for a few days, even weeks. People with Krells seemed fond of this.
 
My father tried this a couple of times, he claimed he heard the difference, I didn't. Since this is a 1000+W amp, we haven't repeated the experience.

 
It's not a myth, some manufacturers (Onkyo f.ex.) recommend a warm up time before you begin to listen.
 
Some of the components in a SS amp is designed to work optimal at thier "working teperature", it´s quite obvious that it´s a bad idea to design a amp that sonds at it´s best when it´s stone cold ^^
 
To have it running for a week sounds silly though. Most amps sound fine after 20-40 minutes.
 
Jun 15, 2013 at 6:30 PM Post #77 of 80
I have noticed that my NAD 326 bee *seems* to sound better after its been on a few hours, whether this is actually the amp or my brain I do not have the expertise to know. Not sure why headphones would need to warm up though, other than possibly burning them in from new. Anyone know WHY this might be the case?
 
Jun 16, 2013 at 3:35 PM Post #78 of 80
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Not sure why headphones would need to warm up though, other than possibly burning them in from new. Anyone know WHY this might be the case?

 
Never heard of warming up headphones/speakers, don´t really think that it would result in an audible difference anyway.
 
Sometimes I do the amp warm up with other phones than the ones I end up listening to and they sound (as far as I can hear) as they should right away.
 
Jun 16, 2013 at 11:46 PM Post #80 of 80
I've wondered at times as well if there was some benefit to 'warm up' for headphones. At times it seemed like after about 20 minutes of listening certain pairs changed their sound a bit. 
 
I've honestly just chalked it up to placebo, or most likely my ears getting accustomed to the sound. Still, it's fun to think about though.
 

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