I am a believer of component Break-In. When I purchase a new amplifier, I generally leave it running 24/7 with a streaming radio of music (itunes, Tidal, Qobuz etc.). I play at low volumes the a couple times a day I play selections I want to listen to at normal listening volumes. I generally feel about after 2 weeks, the amps have opened up quite a bit. BTW, I have never had an amp sound bad out of the box. I just notice more openness and smoothness after a couple of weeks. If an amp sounded terrible out of the box, I would probably return it.
With that said
Is low volume playback enough during break in period for a non speaker component?
I don’t see why not.
As far as I understand component break-in, it involves parts like capacitors, that benefit from the dielectric being exposed to electricity. In the power supply the caps are going to fully charge, no matter the volume. And when you do play music at normal volumes, they do get to discharge and then recharge.
Any wire in the amp, like cables just need signal passing through them.
A good question for the audio engineers would be if exposing the various components to more current would speed up the break-in?
When they put cables on a cooker, it is supplying more current and maybe voltage than the cable would ever get in the system. A phono cable only passes mV, but you never read of anyone who doesn’t think that their cable isn’t broken in after a couple hundred hours.
So, in my opinion what you are doing is fine, and mostly the same thing I do. I usually play at normal volumes more hours a day.
You brought up a good question. Would loud volumes make components break in faster? I’d be curious how PSA engineers answer.
I know Paul isn’t a fan, but I use a couple system burn in and enhancement Cd’s.