Improvement in sound if i leave my CD Player on.

Now Gone

 

Reposted in this thread :-

I own a Moon Eclipse CD player and there is bugger all difference in sound whether it is freshly switched on or left on for weeks. Any differences are extremely marginal.

My system is extremely transparent, so I would hear differences.

I think people are possibly letting their imaginations run away with themselves, or at the very least vastly overstating the significance of the warm up phenomenon.

 

Just seen this and I will give it a try and feed back my results.

I agree that people should give their opinions, but without shooting down other people's. What works for some may not for others - don't see the harm in people having different views, but getting agitated and saying that people are talking rubbish is not going to help attract others into a discussion.

I usually listen to my TT (which obviously doesn't need to be left powered on). But tonight I will switch on my cold CDP, have a listen and leave it on all week - then listen again and see if I can detect a difference.

I used to leave the CDP on all the time when I had SS amps that needed leaving on. But since going valves and TT, I switch it all off. I can't say I have noticed the CDP sounding worse, but I have been listening to records more anyway.

 

CD Player on pernamently

I am going to leave my Tri-Vista DAC on for a good few days and see how it performs, going slightly off topic,l used to own EAR 509 Monos,and if they were left on for a day you would not think these were the same amplifiers,the sound difference was night and day.

 

HI Samantha

Thanks for the open mind and i look forward to what your findings are . Can i suggest you use the same music for the cold vs warmed up test and be methodical about it . Look out for an opening up of the sound stage ,hearing fine detail ,better bass (more articulate) and the treble gaining more air and being less harsh. In fact the whole sound should be much less digital.

Hi Tarzan thank you ,yes my Bat Vk 75 sound better towards the end of a listening session ,with valve amps 30 mins to 60 seem to do the trick but you can get a bit more after longer. I would not recommend any one leaves valve power amps on all the time ,that can be very dangerous and wear your power valves out very quickly.

Regards D Louth

 

The chance of your auditory memory being any good after a week, especially for such small changes is about 0. You would be lucky if your auditory memory stays accurate for an hour.

Regulators can need as much as 20min to come to full thermal stability, but thats about it. Most will work well within 1 min.

 

Hi Tenson

I always use the same tracks of music and i am very methodical about doing comparisons . I always try to iron out any issues like this . In fact if you ask my wife she will tell you how feed up she gets with the same things being played again and again . We have met , and chatted in person so i do respect you and your design and listening ability. It was at last years London HI-FI show ,maybe see you there again.

Regards D Louth

 

If you need to leave a CD player on for hours, let alone days to hear an improvement the machine is of poor design.

Only in the wacky world of the audiophile does stuff like this get given the time of day.

Hi-Fi should be designed to perform well, consistently. If it doesn't - change it.


PS: no need to wait a week - tried this many times over the years.

 

So Robholt what do you use ? In my experience then that must make every cd player Crap then if we use what ever your criteria is ?

D Louth

 

Currently a Cambridge 840C but the same holds true for the previous Meridian, Naim, Cyrus Sony etc.

What do you think is happening inside the machine after a week that hasn't happened after say 1 hour?

 

Hogwash!
I'm sorry but if you really believe a cd player needs to be kept switched on for weeks to perform properly you will believe anything a dealer tells you.

How can you even recall it sounds better? No-one has a memory that good for Pete's sake.
For the record my Esoteric appears to operate to it's full potential after a few minutes of use. After it's spun a track or two I cannot notice any further audible improvement.
Why should a Wadia be any different?

 

I think that you can remember what a track sounded like, even if it were a few weeks ago - especially if you have played it over and over and analysed sections / passages . There a few tracks that everyone, I am sure, knows exactly how they sound on their own system, compared to say, someone elses.
Ive recently changed a lot of my set up and i played an album that I hadnt listened to since I changed my kit ( the last time id heard it was with my old set up). It was Hotel California - i could spot all manner of differences immediately. So my memory had stored what it sounded like previously and compared the two. It seems that too many people reckon that you cannot percieve these, sometimes delicate changes, but I believe and trust my hearing and interpretation of such, to say that I can (or think I can hear them) and thats good enough for me. On the matter of leaving something on for a period of time, i would say yes, there has to be some warm up, but the only way to find out however, is to give it a go and then make a judgement call

 

It's dealer bollocks.

 

Wow, some people on this forum need to calm down a bit

I thought hi-fi (and music for that matter) was all about opinions rather than absolutes.

Hopefully everyone here can see that too.....

 

Amen

 

No ifs or buts about it....mine sounds very harsh until its been on repeat for 20 mins.

I use (although awaiting repair just now) a valve amp....so that might be part of the issue for me.

Its totally different though after 20 mins.

 

I wouldn't b so certain.

 

That's a great way to plant a bias or preconception in the listener's mind. Ever considered a career in audio sales?

P.S. CDP signal output is analogue, not "digital", so CDPs cannot ever sound "digital". This "digital" chit-chat is derived from nonsense written in hi-fi mags.

 

But the conversion is digital, there is no doubt that vinyl offers a much warmer sound however CD can sound more alive because of its greater dynamnic range.

My system also sounds very harsh if its just been turned on, I also find it sounds better very late at night when most people in the area are fast alseep (I use headphones late at night!).

 

The music signal from all CDPs is analogue, courtesy of the DAC, therefore the commonly-read complaint that they sound "digital" is horsepiss.