Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Equipment Burn-In -- A Scientific Test

The quick links I provided are not intended to be comprehensive nor representative. I would expect anyone interested to conduct his or her own research.

Perhaps you can explain the animosity towards the words "digital jitter". It is measurable, it is an issue that digital audio IC manufacturers need to design for, and lastly it can be affected by the choices of end users. The existence of charlatans should not lead one to discriminate against the entire science.

Hey chess,

190/110 then your head explodes, unless of course you duct tape your head first.

CAV104

Such unprofessional and condescending comments as these are the reason why I chose not to respond to any of the comments in the older thread referred to. They are unacceptable in tone. Those who can't get the point across without resorting to personal, condescending language are not worth responding to. I'm all for disagreement, but at a professional level.

As for solid state equipment burn-in, I can believe that there is some initial change, then change for the worse 10-15 years later when the caps dry out. Whether or not the change is entirely audible is another matter.

I'll be modifying a mass-market grade SACD player shortly, installing new capacitors (BG NX-HiQ) on its output coupling caps after the DAC and also after the op-amp. New high speed soft recovery diodes (Harris TO-251) installed on the power supply diode bridges are a possibility, although this could be complicated due to the surface mount board. I'll make an effort to record its output on several songs both before and after modification, as well as weeks and months into the modification. Sine wave tests are possible but not appropriate in this case, since the purpose isn't to establish any technical specs but rather to record any sonic change in music. These modifications are common, and the Black Gates in particular are said to improve bass response when installed as coupling capacitors as they "break-in". If such is the case, the change in bass should not be difficult to document.

I surely don't read anything condescending in JohnK's writing.
Are you sure you were reading the right post?

Blind testing. It's about the best option the industry has to find out the truth.

Well Chess I guess it probably depends on the recording. I sure hope that person would pick something he/she liked. Thirty time? A hundred probably would barely be enough, unless of course you had many people participating in the test.

Daniel

Oh believe me when i tell you that i don't want to ever hear any of the songs on either of my 2 test cds anymore.
They were great for playing out the ranges of music on different components but with so much auditioning, i'm just sick of those songs.
I think i ruined some of them for myself. Some were my real favorites.

I never get tired of any movie or music track, no matter how many times I've seen or heard it. I would be a good test subject because I can endure lots of repetition, especially if it's a kick-ass track or movie. Hell, if I've seen the Star Wars movies less than 600 times all the way through I would be very, very surprised. And that's not counting the number of quick looks. I've worn out two sets of VHS trilogy sets in just the past few years. I can't wait until Nov 12 when Ep II is released on DVD. I've listened to Megadeth's "Tornado of Souls" about 100 times in the past few days as well and can listen to it another 100 times. Those are just two examples. Good thing DVD's and CD's don't wear out 'cause they cost more.

Daniel