Thanks Lon, CAJames, and GroovySauce for your ideas and discussion. The 300B has passed quality control and is waiting for its wooden case to be made. (I changed my order at the very last minute from the Torii Jr. and because I had requested a special wood they had to build a whole new case.)
After reading many of your posts in other topics I'm confident that I made the right decision... Not that there's a wrong decision with Decware, but I think it comes down to the sound one wants to hear. It's difficult to describe sound qualities and feelings with mere words, particularly when we're dealing with transcendent states. That's what I'm after: transcendence of space, time and creation. For me, I believe it comes with a profound clarity in the music and the ability to sense a separation between the different instruments and the sounds they make.
I'm just three years in to the world of HiFi, though I've been a lover of listening to music with ever improving equipment ever since receiving my first AM transistor radio some 55 years ago at age 8. Listening to a friend's expensive tube amp several years ago was my gateway into this universe and building the ZKIT1 when I placed my order 22 months ago was my first foray into the Decware world. Beautiful, hard to describe, pure sound ! The world changed again about a year ago when I swapped out the stock tubes and swapped in a Cryotone set. The sound just keeps getting better and better. Some days I'm so happy with the sound that I wonder what the point is in getting more equipment.
I'm listening alternately through a pair of Klipsch Heresy I and the Decware 945 speakers. While I like them both, I find the 945s a bit to shrill. Very clear, but sometimes difficult to listen to for a long period of time. I've been familiar with the Heresy's for many years, so that's a factor, too. Do I see a pair of the DIY Lii 15 something Baffle something speakers in my future...yup.
When listening to music, I can spend hours at a time just flipping through records and listen mainly to jazz, reggae, world music along with a smattering of classical on the 80's Thorens 146. (The ZP3 arrives shortly and I'll use the same burn in suggestions y'all have recommended. I ordered the stock unit and then after diving a bit deeper into the forums here was worried that I had made a fundamental error in not getting *all* the mods. I spoke to Steve who told me he runs an unmodded ZP3 and felt a bit better about my decision. Between just enjoying what I have, changing tubes or sending it back to have the mods added, I'm covered.)
I don't have a real DAC--just the apple dongle--and am not sure at all what to do there. I don't listen to a lot of digital music and what I do listen to will have to come through spotify, apple music, or my ripped itunes library. I may pick up a dragonfly cobalt for the ability to run music from the apple devices.
But I digress. Back to the topic at hand. I seem to recall reading something on this forum about playing wildly different types of music at a wide range of volumes in order to give the equipment (tubes, capacitors, etc) a full range of dynamics in the burn in process. Does this sound familiar and valid or is it one of those HiFi myths ?
Breaking in the amps will take time and I don't need to be in a hurry for that. Hopefully I have a little more time on the planet and can enjoy the process and experiencing the transformation. While I may not be able to remember the precise qualities of the sound at each step along the way, I'll certainly be able to tell the difference. I've never heard of a stylus timer before and just looked it up. Interesting, useful, and obsessive ! Not sure that I'd use it properly or consistently enough to get a truly accurate reading. That said, two are already on their way to my home !
CAJames, you mentioned running a dummy load through your amp at night. Forgive my ignorance, I'm curious about what that means and how to do it.
Thanks for reading the ramble here and I really appreciate all of your help !