I agree, between marvellous and fine is a fair description. However, never unlistenable, which I have experienced during the first week of a new component.
Maybe that’s why the new classic products have taken so long to come to market.
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As @Guinnless asked, how would that work in practice if some components supposedly take 12+ months to burn in?
Rather than an ‘explanation’ for , I perhaps should have clarified that it could-possibly-maybe be a factor. I’m not a burn in denier as such, though I do wonder at some of the lengthy periods noted…
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Maybe Hi Fi manufacturers shouldn’t quote Specifications but instead put a disclaimer that Specifications might vary through time. 
Careful not to confuse warm up with burn in. 
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Strangely, my 72 hi cap 250 never sounds as good as when i first switch it on. Same when i had 140 and 180 and 32.5 amps before and after servicing. I understand that the concensus is dont switch them off and i dont but eventually have to for a couple of days to get that just switched on sound then starts the process again of how long before i need to ‘refresh’ it .
Perhaps my ears are knacked
Quite some years back I bought a pair of B&W speakers, which I still have. The paperwork has a section that says that “the sound may continue to improve for some period, but this is due to your ears/brain becoming accustomed to the excellent sound you are now hearing…”
Probably written by an Engineer who somehow got into the product lit area by mistake! I expect he’s been sent back to engineering and barred from customer contact. I bought a new pair of B&W speakers recently and there was nothing like that anywhere in the paperwork.
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My goodness! We can’t have engineers communicating with the public, surely. Public communication is the province of the wishy-washy marketing types only!
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Why should it be. Burn out is definitely not 
I believe in burn in, to a point. I have a hard time believing in burn in when people are talking months & hundreds of hours, while the whole time they’ve been listening. I can say with 100% certainty our ears/brain do adapt to the sound (at least mine do, so I’m assuming all our ears/brains work the same) & have posted a couple examples of this specifically happening to me, on the forums before. I have never experienced any component taking longer then 10-20 hrs. The only way to truly know if the item is burning in or its your brain adjusting is to play the item while not listening & every so often have a short listen to see if any changes are noticeable vs last listen. There are far to many other variables that have an impact on sound, to be saying months on that things are still burning in. I have always found the item should sound good from the start, if it doesn’t, sonically its probably a big departure from what I’ve been listening too & unless I want to change the sound in that direction, its probably not something I want to keep. Even with new speakers, I’ve always found they sound pretty good out of the box, then they always seem to get a bit thin after the first few hours (likely the tweeter breaking in first, being the driver with the weakest suspension) & then the mid & bass drivers start to loosen up. Again, even with speakers 10-20hrs is all they’ve ever needed.
Agree. NDX2 is a super Naim box. Mine too has XPSDR. That makes a positive difference to its performance. Burn in was definitely a feature I noticed with the NDX2 and to a lesser effect with the XPSDR as well. I leave THE NDX2 on standby when not in use but I don’t switch off my power supplies or amp.
The most spectacular burn in improvement I have noticed though is with the Dynaudio Heritage Specials. They sounded very good at the start of their lives, about 12 months ago. But they sound incredible now (252/SCDR/250DR/EpicXL speaker cable). Upgraded to brand new 300DR last week to get that little bit more out of the 252, but left channel (1) stopped working after 1/2 hour of gentle running in use! Naim tell me it is probably a stuck relay. So it’s going back home to Salisbury tomorrow. No doubt that will require a period of burn in too! Such fun.
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We are wondering if the uptick in performance after 4 months was due to speakers opening up.
The 300DR pushes our speakers to levels the 250DR simply could not, especially in the bass. And because the sound remains coherent with no muddling at volume I do admit I tend to crank the volume just that notch or two more when SWMBO is out. The 300DR has allowed me to revisit a lot of dense/complex metal albums which really push speakers.
Or maybe something came loose 
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Mechanical things - Run In
Phycological things - Burn In
Simples. 
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Sadly not. I wish it were that simple but I unplugged de cabled re cabled and re plugged it all at least 4 times over 2 days and same result. Definitely a problem with one of the 300DR/PS boxes or possibly one of burndies or channel one XLR cable? Definitely not anything else as reattached 250DR and all working perfectly.
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If a component is unlistenable out of the box no amount of burn in will get it to fine or marvelous in my experience.
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Interesting post about run in on Naim kit, including the suggested mechanism
A few years ago I replaced a Denon DL103 with a new Denon DL 103.
After I’d fitted it onto the arm it sounded that bad I actually thought I’d damaged it during fitting.
30 hours run and it sounded fine.
That’s explaining why capacitors need replacing, nothing to do with burning in.
I didn’t say out of the box. I generally find things perform quite well out of the box, but often seem to go downhill 2 or 3 days later, before coming back on song. At some point thereafter, the presentation has stabilised enough to make a decision on whether or not the item is a keeper.
By unlistenable I simply mean not at all enjoyable, to the extent I stop listening and walk away. I have experienced that several times with new components, within the first week of running 24/7. That never happens later - I might enjoy more or less on a given day but I never feel I have to stop listening due to an unenjoyable presentation.
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And I wouldn’t even try- it would go straight back.
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