A high-Q oscillator needs about Q oscillation cycles to reach steady state

Evidence

Galileo may be forgiven, because it takes some time for the oscillator to settle in to oscillation at the drive frequency, especially if it is high Q. The time to “settle down” once the steady drive is turned on can be understood this way: kick the system, and with no drive it returns to a quiescent state with only 4% of the initial amplitude in Q oscillations. The presence of the drive doesn’t change this settling down time, so the steady state is effectively reached in Q oscillations. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 977

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Q practically as the number of oscillations needed to settle to steady state.