Do Kempers have a break in period?

Quote from saxbell68

Lol. I'm more concerned that I perceived it as mids. High end hearing loss is definitely creeping up on me.

Good catch, @saxbell68

I have found, when in doubt, and I have a concern that I may some non-obvious system or output setting / parameter has been accidentally changed, do a reset to factory intialization condition. This is performed as follows (from the KPA Reference Manual -- page 175)

--------------------------------------------------------------

Unexpected behavior
In case any inputs or outputs don’t operate as you would expect, or you experience any other unpredicted behavior,
the soft button “Init Globals” in the System Settings will reset most global parameters in the System Settings and
Output Section as well as all Lockings to their default state. This way, you are always able to recover a defined state
of settings. Your stored Rigs, Presets, Performances, and Slots won’t be impacted by this reset.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheers,
John

Hey, your ears are still working, that's good. I blowing mine out!

Quote from saxbell68

Thanks for the replies. The main output default volume was 0.2 dB different from the old unit from the factory. It was totally messing with my ears. I appreciate all of the help.

Nah man, it wasn't messing with your ears IMHO; your perception of a difference was perfectly-fine and in accordance with the non-linear response of our frequency-spectrum perception (Fletch-Muns curve).

In fact, I say well done to your having detected a difference at all, 'cause even a full dB in level change is barely-detectable to many, and accepted, unless I'm mistaken, as the "standard" minimum level-change humans are able to hear.

IOW, you've probably got Bat Ears™, as per @Ingolf's suggestion.

I wasn't gonna weigh in, but what helps is understanding some common sense physics to problem solve well.

"Break-in" to me is just "a break-down that is pleasing" as it involves the degradation or "aging" of a mechanical product but in a way that is desire.
Most are undesirable. And eventually it all leads to non-pleasing outcomes with enough age/use.

Things that have elasticity have break-in periods. Speakers & microphones both change with use and time. For speakers it's considered good. Until they fart. For microphones, it's not good. They are supposed to resist tension loss. But listen to "vintage" mics today and people have become so used to their break-in that if properly restored they sound brighter and people aren't accustomed to this sound.
Things that have electronic components that break down can affect analog signals, but not digital signals unless they degrade to the point of lack of proper transmission.
Anything using magnetic induction (i.e. transformers) can break down over time. Think transformers, pickups. Some say that the reason 1950's guitars sound so good is their magnets lost magnetism that by the late 60's to 80's sounded better than the 50's. IDK the truth, but it's a speculation I read about.

The power of digital is that it rises above it's components level by being essentially a meta-data interpretation of an analog sound. Independent of the transmission parts until interfered with enough to destroy parts of the signal and it's always quite noticeable. Drop outs or silence.

Thats my lay understanding. But it helps solve problems. If a digital connection isn't working, it's usually not plugged in all the way, or a device isn't turned on, or a port is damaged (i.e. solder came loose) For an analog signal, anything goes. Bad cords, damaged cord, degraded components, parts that have aged too much to sound good anymore, etc.

For the Kemper preamp, in terms of aging, port damage is immediately obvious or programming bugs on different updates affecting the signal between 2 units is about it.