Just hit the 25 hour mark.....
The burn in for these will be slow with using tube amplifiers. I wish I could just leave the whole thing on for a week. The stridency disappeared pretty much a few hours into playing, so that is pretty awesome.
The Clarity Cap MRs however, and this is assumption on my part, are what are killing me. It sounds odd, and most people will probably call this audiophoolery, but I swear I can hear the sound change sometimes minute to minute.
One minute the sound will be recessed but smooth, and the next it will be forward and grainy.
Last night I started to get a great inclination of what I hope they ultimately sound like. Everything was smooth, ripe with beautiful tone, and the highs were amazing. I think I prefer dome tweeters to planars or ribbons. I am sure there are great examples of all different forms of tweeter reproduction, but the highs on these Exoticas are splendid.
They have this amazing ability during a cymbal strike to have both air and tonal bloom, it creates some very cool moments. Every planar or ribbon I have heard has excelled at the airy portion, but to my ears always lacked the brassy depth of a cymbal strike. These seem to nail both aspects.
There is also this crazy stillness in the music that I never heard before in my room. I don't know if it is because the cabinet is so inert, or the Clarity MRs, or what, but it is something I haven't experienced till this point.
It is hard to say for me what I feel is lacking at this point, because they are seemingly yin or yang. I have been looping the same tracks over and over again, and the difference is sometimes staggering during this break in period.
In the end I hope that the ying and yang that I have been hearing find a common ground to exist on. There are sometimes when I feel the music sounds too reticent and veiled, and other times I feel the music is too harsh and brittle.
The one constant that has remained spectacular is the vocals. You just hear everything on the recording, and it is fantastic.
I do get glimpses of greatness that peak out, and I get this beautiful, smooth, meaty, detailed presentation, and I really really really love it.
The other thing to note is the Rythmik amps run very cool. I have had the music kicking, and have yet to have the amp feel barely warm to the touch.
Its been a shade over a week, and I still adore their build quality. I don't know if that will ever wear off, I hope it doesn't.
In any event, I look forward to the next 25 hours and beyond. When I started in this hobby, I didn't think I would ever get to this level. These speakers are so well built, sound so good, and are from such a great company. I feel very fortunate to own them.
