Marc, you also hit on one thing that I do feel is very important--warming up. I think this is another issue we all need to keep in mind. Some equipment sounds best after it's been on for a few minutes/hours/days/even weeks. Cables can even sound better after they have been played for a few hours; AudioQuest recently attempted to address this issue with their DBS technology.
I think warmup time also confuses us with respect to break-in.
And I want to make sure I don't come off as stating break-in is always BS; it isn't. Every piece is different, some exhibit these characteristics more than others, and there are alot of variables to confuse our ears!
FWIW, WRT warmup, with SS equipment, I leave it on 24/7. *Especially digital* as I find huge differences in cold and warm in much digital gear. Tube gear I don't leave on 24/7, but I do find my tube gear sounds good after 20 minutes, great after an hour or two, and my pre seems to sound best if it's left on for 12 hours. Fortunately, in my house, this happens often
I have been AWOL from TS.com for a year or thereabouts, and I was *very* happy to find such an active Playback forum upon returning. Good stuff here!