1 week of burnin complete… going on to next 7 days… thx for all the help… meanwhile windom happened… now i dont know will i ever be exactly able to measure the burnin effect. At some level who cares… good music is all we need 
I decided to hold off on any additional changes until my burn in is complete, including loading Windom. Considering some have had difficulty assuring a quality load of Windom I think waiting has been a wise move.
@karthick - Please do not fret over it. Even if you were able to exactly quantify/time it to your satisfaction as Tony has (and seems to strongly believe everyone else is mistaken, and that if you were carefully timing and listening, at 1k hrs…Boom!), you would still be talking about a Focus Group of One, with a Sample Size of One. As Ted pointed out, the only way to make that sort of determination is to buy two devices, run one for X hours, and compare (rinse and repeat).
Even then - still FGoO and Sample Size of Two. These devices (and the parts they’re comprised of) don’t all behave the same.
I have reached 450 hours almost and there is a lot of warmth. No doubt. The issue I struggle with is, when there is an improvement, for next 5 days I feel it and then it becomes the baseline and my ear starts craving to hear more details 
i dont know when my ears will reach a happy place that it says this is perfect. Thanks for all your advice. I think 500 hour burn-in should be added to DAC manual so that customer can enjoy the full benefit.
Definitely add a rear view so I don’t have to keep referring to a phone screenshot.
Military contractors burn in equipment extensively through testing in furnaces. It’s part of what they call “shake and bake” testing and it’s done routinely for subsystems and cards prior to delivery.
But my question is: is it burned-in to test if it fails, or it’s burned-in to bring it up to spec?
Well, yes and no. Burnt in and shaken IS the spec.
I take your point though. Our “burn-in” is done to test out failures based on the extreme environmental factors a jet is likely to encounter in air-to-air combat vs settling the measurements.
Exactly. My point being if burn-in for proper operation really matters I expect the military and NASA to be doing so. Because you know…missing a planet or sending a guided missile into a hospital are not good things. Perhaps burn-in IS done specifically for this reason but I’ve never heard of it.
I have never heard of burn-in for operational purposes other than discussions among audio enthusiasts.
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We are a funny bunch. Burn-in, in this sense, is literally to test for premature failures due to operating temperatures.
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That’s the military reason. Not to bring components into a spec band. If they aren’t in spec prior to shake and bake, they don’t enter shake and bake.
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Yeah - but do you CRITICALLY LISTEN to them???. I have a hard time imagining them sounding better after being put in a baggie and coated with crushed corn flakes ; )
It depends on the application I suppose. Radars vs EW vs control systems. Lol.
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In light of this discussion I suppose we should use “run in” or something else that fits caps forming and so on, since the term “break in” or “burn in” has other meanings with respect to new electronics.
Well, things like caps reaching operational temp and settling down - I can see how that makes a difference. But when people start talking about burning in cables and whatnot I’m like “whatever dude”.
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Well, one explanation that seems plausible is that the insulation on cables is a dielectric and needs to “form” in a manner similar to capacitors.
I’ve heard a “burn/break-in” effect with cables (I think), but it was a fraction of the magnitude I’ve heard with amplifiers and preamps. Speakers are in a whole different league because of the mechanical components.
If Galen (@rower30) follows this thread, he would be the one to comment.
Well, speakers are a given - there a e moving parts that need to be loosened before the driver is at spec. Amps and preamps - again, it makes sense that caps will settle down after being through a heat cycles.
But cables? Sorry, don’t buy it. Until I see a blind A/B test of cables burned and not burned in, with the subject (human) correctly identifying the different cables, it’s all BS. I have a feeling there is no recorded event of this happening because no one’s been successful at it.
Do you have an A/B of burned in v. new amps or preamps?
If not, does this mean no one has been successful telling the difference?
I’m not talking about amps and preamps. I indicated that it’s easy to see how “settled down” caps will make a difference. I’m talking more esoteric things. Like cables…or, let’s take a DAC for example - there are rarely many massive caps in them. So most of what you’re left with is wiring. The power supply itself is nothing more than wires wound around a piece of metal.