Here's the story of what will happen to you when for whatever reason you were using a well broken in NOS1(a) and have to revert to a new one.
Simple : You won't survive it. Or won't know how to.
It will be the most frustrating part of your life. And you HAVE to get through it ...
So there you are with your new NOS1(a);
You unpack it, hook it up, listen and say WOW. Easy to claim this from my side, because everybody so far does.
You will notice easily that the next day it sounds way better and the third day better again. After that there's an off day, and after that (day 5) things normalize to day 3 again.
Nothing much happens any more until day 14 or so. Then day by day it gets better. At day 30, it's a bit finished.
Your NOS1(a) plays well. Very very well.
Still, after many months and a revisit to an album you played at day 30 fo the last time, will make you say "what ?!". So much better that now sounds.
Then sh*t happens for the whatever reason and you receive a new one.
Of course the new one sounds the same as the new one from a couple of years back. But not to you. First minute you may think it is okay, 2nd minute you are not so sure, and 5th minute all in you starts to shrink because it is as it is; It is so so much worse than when broken in. It now sounds totally ugly to you. No life in it. Flat. Grey. Yeah, nothing happening at all. How in the world could you have found this a good sounding DAC at the first unwrap ever back.
Nobody experienced this so far, although soon someone will.
I myself ran through the process because I set up a new DAC for the NOS1a prototype (I almost jumped from a bridge under way) and yesterday I experienced it again because I took my own NOS1a out of order and listened to a new one for the evening.
If you are like me (but let's not hope that) you will not be able to cope. I try to think of some comparison with normal life, but I think it doesn't exist. From one side there's the urge - or obsession if you want - to play music, while on the other this is exactly what should not be done because it kills all the good moods.
Being an audiophile must be something strange, and only in such rare occasions we notice what it really means. Something must exist like the opposite of adrenaline. Or a way under par level of it. Makes you restless. Don't know where to go.
Meanwhile guys, I realize how priceless a well broken in NOS1(a) actually is. So this morning I thought about how foolish it would be to sell a (you) NOS1 for (way) less than the new price. I came to this from the other angle : what would I myself offer for one, knowing how ultimately good it sounds after, say, two years of using it. Not sure how foolish it will be for some, but I think I would be offering 2000 more (name your currency) for one which has been broken in well.
Of course, when you don't know about it (you're just new to it) there's no problem. You will keep it anyway, and all goes graduately.
During the writing of this post, my mind comes to
this post and by now I may wonder how realistic such a thing could be. I can't imagine that it was for the same purpose as the subject of my post as of now, but still it would be a very good way to do it. So that post describes (indeed) how a NOS1 owner had to order a new one for reasons, but next did not even unpack it and loans it to another person. Again, the purpose may be very different than what I describe here, but it would be win-win-win all over; Loan it for a month to someone of your liking, and when it comes back at least it's on par with normal breaking in.
This latter was not on my mind when I started this post. But it would solve that problem.
Regards,
Peter
