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How long is the burn-in period to your headphones?

post #1 of 12
5/23/07 at 11:11pm
Thread Starter 
I am suddenly curious about how long you guys will put your phones to burn. Please write down the optimum length which you consider as best to your phones.

HD595--->50 hours
Um1---20 hours
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post #2 of 12
5/23/07 at 11:25pm
I just got a pair of AKG K 701's and they have been playing non stop for 48 hours now...will probably do that for about a week.
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post #3 of 12
5/23/07 at 11:33pm
people say that iems don't burn in
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post #4 of 12
5/23/07 at 11:34pm
well i burned in my 595's for a few weeks continuously, then compared to a brand new pair. I couldn't tell any difference, but i don't have the most sensitive ears.
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post #5 of 12
5/24/07 at 12:21am
Here is what I found....

701 - about 300+ hours, which comes as no shocker since thats the general feeling from what I've read.

HD 650 - about 200 hours before is started dowing what I expected.

RS1- this one was also about 200 hours which suprised me since some of the things I read said approx 50 hours. I found a big improvement at about the 200 hour mark.
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post #6 of 12
5/24/07 at 1:38am
I wouldn't burn in my phones at all.

On the other hand, I had excellent luck breaking in my K701 for nearly a week with normal music. My K81DJ took well under two days with white/pink noise. I did the same for my UM2 out of curiosity (fixed armature IEMs aren't supposed to break in), but ear penetration seemed much more important than anything else; I just became more expert at using them over time.

I think breaking in makes perfect sense, but I wonder what would happen if users were to unwittingly get used K701s instead of brand new ones. Would they notice the break-in phenomenon?
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post #7 of 12
5/24/07 at 9:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by feh1325 View Post
people say that iems don't burn in
I suppose it would depend on the iems. Subjectively, I heard a difference after I burned in my E500's. But then again, like I said, it is subjective...
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post #8 of 12
5/24/07 at 11:09am
It's all in your head...


Certainly not heard any real difference with my canalphones between when I bought them and right now, maybe a slight boost in some of the midrange frequencies but nothing wildly out of kilter with how they sounded out of the box. Personally I don't think that high-end phones like HD650s sound much different from hour 0 to hour 300, I've certainly not heard any appreciable difference, although I can also appreciate that the components will get used to oscillating and operating as they're supposed to after their factory installation where they'll be sitting in a box for a while waiting to be shipped out to stockists... But then again, with headphones as quality as topend Sennies, there shouldn't be that much variance in the SQ from day 1 anyway, given the quality of the components they're using.


Or is my thinking completely out of step with everybody else's here? Anybody fancy buying me a new pair of HD650s so I can do an A/B comparison?
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post #9 of 12
5/24/07 at 11:21am
i replaced my E500's twice, and didn't hear any different between the old one and the replacement one.... twice.
...
that makes me don't believe in IEMs burn-in anymore

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post #10 of 12
5/24/07 at 11:26am
Depends on the cans.

I guess you wouldn't notice any difference if the change was small enough. IEM's I wouldn't think change much. My ER-4 didn't (probably). Some drivers need time though.

As an example, DLS ultimates (car speakers) are truly horrid, unlistenable new. Even with wooding ears they are terrible. Whole instruments are missing. You could clearly hear the windings on the voice coil scraping the magnets and feel the stiffness of the spider and surround. The packaging says they need 30 - 50 hours from memory (can't remember) and after about 100 hours playing non stop in a room they sounded amazing. Love them now.

That is definitely not psychological! I guess most speakers, ear mounted or otherwise, fall somewhere between the 2 extremes.

I burn in new cans non stop for about 200 hours, listening every night or 2. Haven't heard any differences in anything yet that I am sure of. Edition 9 coming on Tuesday so that will be interesting. Wish I could measure or record the changes that everyone assures me happen!
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post #11 of 12
5/24/07 at 11:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Christopher View Post
It's all in your head...
It's not in our heads. All headphones constructed dont look EXACTLY the same inside (minor differences due to molding) and the driver has to settle in the cans to sound the best. That's what burn-in's all about. The same with a new engine: the pistons have to settle in the cylinders in order to work correctly, the gasoline draw also drops when the engine has run some hundred miles. I'd say burn-in is defenitely is making the cans sound different.

Edit: noticed stevenkelby had written about the same thing... :P
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post #12 of 12
5/24/07 at 12:03pm
My phones are still burning-in even as we type. My HD-650 in particular has been burning-in for the past 2 years.

Alright I joke. I noticed my HD-650 took some 150-200 hours before it really opened up. My K601 probably took just a little less time than that (which is still a lot). My PX-100 got to where it is sounding now at the 2 hours mark.

Cheers!
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