Why does Naim equipment sound better .when left powered on. and played for a while?.

Pieman,

Unfortunately I am not able to answer your question from a technical perspective, but I am sure someone will be along soon with the answer. What I will say though is, without doubt Naim equipment when left powered on sounds much better than from cold. My system really comes alive after the first 3/4 days of being powered on and the difference is huge. It's like I have added another box to the system.

Ian.

Hi Ian.

I agree. I leave all my equipment powered up all the time.

It does sound better that way .It is also better after about half an hour of listening.

I suppose it does not matter why , just interested why it's better?.

Regards

Pieman.

Speakers tend to sound marginally better once their voice calls  have warmed up slightly as well.

Especially now it's gone a bit chilly and damp.

Why does Naim equipment sound better when left powered on and played for a while?

I'd have to think because the gear has been designed to function optimally at an ambient internal temperature that assumes the gear is in use as opposed to being played from a cold start. This makes sense since Naim recommend leaving their gear constantly powered-up and on/off cycles can stress capacitor longevity.

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Speakers tend to sound marginally better once their voice calls  have warmed up slightly as well.

Seems to work for humans and their vocal cords as well, maybe beyond a marginal improvement

If it's a temperature thing then is there an ideal ambient temperature? Should we turn our heating up?

In a conversation with Paul at a Naim event, the consensus with the dealer was that within the limits of what is safe, the hotter the better.

Does somebody here can tell whether that is also true for the new Unity range, and for instance the Atom? 

I just spotted the stand-by button on the Atom front panel, which to the best of my knowledge is new to Naim. 

The current and voltage characteristics of bipolar transistors are significantly dependant on temperature.

The internal impedance and leakage current of electrolytic capacitors are significantly dependant on the  voltage / temperature / time profile.