Thoughts on jitter and Lumin burn-in.

[BlueSky]

I have a couple of questions that I cannot seem to find definitive answers to and maybe there are none other than trust your own ears and decide.

Question 1 has to do with the burn-in process on equipment. It's generally thought that equipment, even cables, need time to burn-in, settle in, or mature before the sound of the device hits its stride. My question has to do with the possibility of, during burn-in, can the ideal sound be achieved at a given point but, as the burn-in process continues further, bypass the point of best sound and actually continue on negatively affecting the sound quality?

Question 2 has to do with jitter. I am assuming that sound data once it is inside the Lumin has been isolated and, therefore, freed from any negative effects of external stimulus like the network, AC power source, etc. The point of the question is it beneficial to invest in high quality network devices or associated power supplies, etc, and, if so, why?

 

[wklie]

1. Since you have had the Lumin S1 for a few years, what's your experience?

2. There is a theory that some poor quality power supplies contaminate your AC so when all those power supplies are upgraded, the system SQ is improved. I've met a user who said his vinyl setup is degraded by the network, so he has to power off the network to listen to vinyl at best quality. There is another theory that SMPS produces leakage current that passes through a network cable and affect the SQ of network streamers. Fiber network prevents that because you do not have electrical interference in an optical fiber.

 

[BlueSky]

1. Answering a question with a question. I think "Socrates" employed that teaching methodology and I will bite. Actually my experience tells me that there is not much, if any, difference with solid state devices right out of the box until I trade them in. I think if the design is good, the components are top notch and not put into an over-stressed situation I think it's going to sound wonderful right from the start. I find that my attitude, level of alertness or other touchy-feely factors play quite a bit more into what I am hearing. A good single malt Scotch or two before listening can work wonders. Tubes I find do age and can drift from good to best and then back again. The one area where I do find differences is in video products like projectors with lamps but not so much with the current generation of laser illumination.

Regarding #2 and SMPS, I was hoping you would say that the design of the Lumin was tank like and there was robust enough decoupling that would allow nothing bad inside to diddle with SQ be it via copper Ethernet or the analog input/output connections. I did go with fiber to at least eliminate one of those possibilities.

Again, thanks for the information and now back to some listening.

 

[MikeCh]

Tubes I find do age and can drift from good to best and then back again. The one area where I do find differences is in video products like projectors with lamps but not so much with the current generation of laser illumination.

Correct. These two items (tubes and lamps) are susceptible to wear and tear and have a limited life going in... AKA, user serviceable, disposable goods. Solid-state gear and tube gear (The tubes themselves excepted) should last many many years as you described above unless they are abused in some fashion.