How can anyone sell a piece of gear that sounds awful for the first 75 hours?
It should take 2 hours to show its true self, then a few 100 after that to loosen up and and open up a bit.
We all know what burn in is and have experienced it , that is Audio 101, that's for newbies, not for us.
You have to trust your ears, if something is amiss or bothers you then it is real. Burn in may help bit it will never solve your problem.
And there lies the crux of the problem.
Building a system is difficult, getting impedance's correct, getting gear that works well together, trying to get some degree of synergy,setting up the speakers correctly, addressing the room, these are difficult problems often overlooked for the sake of burn in.
How many people live with systems they are unhappy with, simply because the numbers match, or the price was high, or it looks good, or people say it is great, or it is the flavor of the month, only to be unhappy in the end.
I know I am guilty 
I guess you will have to ask all his many satisfied customers. Agreed after two hours to come to temp you will know. Yes after a "few hundred" hours it does open up. During that time it changes along the way. Gary stated that about 50 hours in I would hate it. He was correct. Gary was honest and absolutely correct about his design. Out of the box sounded VG to me then stated changing as he stated.
Now with 200 hours as suggested by Gary we are very pleased with the preamp. The hardness is gone and the sound stage opened up big time. Now ready for prime time.
If a component sounds bad it is bad. No sugar coating. I guess there may be some confused puppies out there but a general statement is unfair to the manf. and owner. If one is stubborn or kidding themselves they are are only fooling themselves. I will agree with that.
For us its different. We are evaluating the Dodd preamps for sale consideration. So before we invest in a new line we put it through its paces. This is business for us we do not fool ourselves that costs money. We try it in as many different systems that we can. In all fairness to the manf, we go with their recommendations for break in and set up. Then the piece has zero excuse but sonic value. So if the manf. tells me 200 hours then 200 hours it is before evaluation. It's only fair. Me for one would never get used to or talked into a component that sounds bad, no matter how long we listened or how much we can make. Never.
If one is not honest to themselves in what they hear then it is their issue not everyone. I understand where you are coming from and respect your opinion just disagree about break in, that's all.
charles
