About time for a quick update on the ARTs......
Just passing 50 hours today. Thank goodness, and a bit surprising, I've only had that one incident where I felt the magic was gone.
At this point they sounded wonderful initially, took a bit of a dive after 15ish hours. The magic returned by 20 hours and things have been very good since. I'm hard pressed to detect any significant change since 20 hours. We'll see.
I have decided to go cage-less, I'd had them installed and removed a few times Yes, the cages are a PITA to install/remove. It would help a little if the captive screws were cross-point instead of just slotted...but the cages are packed away in the shipping boxes now and that's that. I like the looks of the AMPs both ways, so, cage-less it is if for no other reason that a bit better cooling.
I've been trying to detect any down-side to the ARTs as compared to the JC-1s, I can't. Even the bass in my opinion is every bit if not more enjoyable on the ARTs. In short, the ARTs in my opinion meet or beat the JC-1s in every category, and of course considering the cost difference, they damn well should. :bonkers:
In an effort to not do the typical Audiophile thing of using words like huge, massive, extreme etc. to describe an improvement that likely couldn't even be measured, I'll simply say that I'm very much enjoying the ARTs, to me, the sound character they seem to add, or, maybe extract, is very pleasing. I'm keeping them, and, as I say about the GAT, the ARTs will remain here until they are stolen or pried from my dead hands.
Actually, there was another down-side to the ARTs. Since I'm a DIY guy, and just love making cables, my previous RCAs just were not quite the correct length to accommodate the ARTs, so I had to whip up a new set, oh wait, I like making cables, so I guess it really wasn't a down side after all.
Enjoy your music every day!