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Component ageing, firmware updates, ... - Do initial review measurement results still match after 2, 5, ... years of audio equipment use?

I just remembered that a firmware update of my M33 has probably changed the gain structures. It became louder at the same volume setting and I had to readjust my integration in the surround setup. In another update, the internal Dirac Live implementation was changed, which led to an audible difference even without a new filter export. I strongly assume that an M33 would now show different measured values.
 
...Actually, it's more than five years ago. ;)
Time flys even when you measure it! :rolleyes:
 
The challenge today is to either purchase sub $500 gear and expect 5 years maximum. A throw away world just like mobile phones.

Or spend $3000 and get 10 years +. Yet become locked into state of the art at time of purchase.

The ROI is self evident I think, with the cheaper gears allowing regular upgrades to newer specs and feature sets. Shiny and bright.

Caveat emptor indeed.
iono. my pre and amps are 30+ yrs old. the pre seems to have a couple issues. takes about 30 minutes to start sounding good. it's not the amps as both channels sound the same. and bias was pretty deadon when i last checked maybe a year ago.
better quality at the price point that work for you. my pre was $5100 new. the amps ~300 new.
 
My 2c as a design engineer (and a repair technician when I was younger):
  • As already mentioned, mechanical parts usually fail first: switches, relay contacts, potentiometers, connectors (esp. the RCA ones)
  • Early part of bathtub failures can be avoided by proper burn-in or environmental screening during production, but I guess this is not justifiable for most commercial audio products
  • Poor thermal solutions are the biggest contributor to failure. Plus I suspect expect that the modern thermal interface materials do not keep their properties for very long (but it's only suspicion...). Anyway, a strong thermal derating is the key factor here (and this increases cost, that's why overheated devices is the norm nowadays). But the norm of today's ICs is to operate at elevated temperatures. This is why I would not expect processors and SOCs to live for long (let alone the s/w obsolescence)
  • Elevated temperatures do affect the soldering as well, especially in power stages. That is another very common cuase of failure.
  • Aluminum capacitors are the next obvious suspect. Capacitors with "+105oC" rating are expected to live more than their "+85oC" counterparts. Of course, it also depends on the design. E.g. on switching regulator input stages, excessive ripple current can lead to an early failure. Same for excessive inrush currents. Adjacent thermal sources will also reduce the operating life of the electrolytic capacitors. That's why recapping is sooo effective!
  • Opto-isolators will inevitably fail. Unless designer has properly derated the driver diode.
  • Semiconductors (not memory cells) do not fail easily unless their are thermally stressed or subjected to large peak currents (e.g. inrush currents) or overvoltages (that's why the power adapters from the mains voltage usually fail first).
Most likely there a few more things I cannot recall at the moment.
 
My two Yamaha processors date from the mid-1980s. Both are pristine SQ-wise AFAICT and work like new other than a little play in a motorized master volume knob and a tape monitor switch that occasionally gets noisy, the latter of which requires a little exercise to clear it up for several months at a time. What I'm dreading is the CR2032 in one of those elderly things finally giving up the ghost -- it's soldered in and would require a fuktonne of work to access and replace.
 
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