Great Discovery

Posted by: antmast on 14 September 2016

I have had a Unitiserve, Moon SimAudio 380D digital/analog converter and a Musical Fidelity M6PRX Power Amplifier for 4 years now, all units of course are broken in. Recently  we had a power outage. My Nas units along with the d/a converter were off for at least a day before I noticed. The other components must have come back on after power restore. Well when I finally got everything powered  up the sound was magnificent, more than usual magnificent. Of course I wanted to know why. I have always kept my units powered on, in true audiophile fashion.  After some experimentation I found that my digital/analog converter hates this audiophile fashion. It loves being powered off and shut down via the back switch between listening sessions. This way Sound magnificent returns each time. Why? 

Posted on: 14 September 2016 by hafler3o

More interesting question is: If the music returns magnificent after a power down, at what point in the previous listening session did it start sounding 'not so great'?

Posted on: 14 September 2016 by John Willmott

Au contraire mon frère .. the most important question to the OP is:  how could you go for over "at least a day" and not notice your kit wasn't turned on ?  That would lead me to believe you don't listen to it every day .. tsk, tsk.

Posted on: 15 September 2016 by Adam Zielinski

Actually - where does it specify in the Simaudio manual that their equipment is to be kept on like Naim? 

I used to have a Moon DAC - there is a very clearly labeled button called "standby' on the front.

Posted on: 15 September 2016 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

I tend to shut down nightly any component that runs hot, in my case the UnitiServe, its power supply and the Resonessence Mirus DAC (the latter goes into standby). The 252 and 250 stay powered up.

I kind of enjoy the morning ritual of switching the source components back on. Waiting for the UnitiServe to boot up gives me time to make the coffee. 

Does it sound better this way? No difference really, but at least the US starts the day with a fresh IP address and seems less prone to go offline than when left on constantly.

Jan

Posted on: 15 September 2016 by Moussa
hafler3o posted:

More interesting question is: If the music returns magnificent after a power down, at what point in the previous listening session did it start sounding 'not so great'?

I like your question hafler!

Posted on: 16 September 2016 by antmast

Technically it doesn't sound bad on the previous listen anymore. I just shut it down. However if I leave the DAC on then it doesn't seem to sound as wonderful the next time I listen to it.

Posted on: 16 September 2016 by hungryhalibut

It doesn't sound like the Dac is very well designed if it has to be turned off every day in order to maintain its performance. 

Posted on: 16 September 2016 by dayjay

I shut all mine down every couple of weeks and usually find that I get an improvement in SQ. First noticed it after powering up after coming back from holiday, and there have been a number of threads on here about the affect and why it might occur.  

Posted on: 16 September 2016 by hungryhalibut

There's a difference between every few months and every day though. 

Posted on: 16 September 2016 by dayjay

And thank the Lord too, it's a pain in the bum, or more accurately the back, to do it every few months.  Sounds a bit dodgy if it's every day

Posted on: 16 September 2016 by antmast
Adam Zielinski posted:

Actually - where does it specify in the Simaudio manual that their equipment is to be kept on like Naim? 

I used to have a Moon DAC - there is a very clearly labeled button called "standby' on the front.

I will try this Adam and see if maybe this makes powering down the unit unnecessary.