Burn in - Page 2

From my own experience i believe that burn in has different impact on different brands. The closest thing to objective changes after burn in that i noticed was with my first set of higher quality headphones, the Beyerdynamics. When they were fresh out of the box I plugged them straight in to my Ipod, and at full volume they produced a weak, very anemic sound which had me really disappointed and worried. After a few weeks of using them through a better amp and having left them playing around the clock, the Ipod could drive them just fine on volume mid-way with a full, richer sound.

I´ve tried burn in on different cans on the other hand, where i never heard a, at least for me, noticable change in sound quality och character.

I still use to leave new phones playing over night for a few days with pink noise, starting with lower volume that I gradually increase and after that I just use them as supposed to and enjoy the music. 

Cheers Johan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik 

Don't worry about it. Most of the "burn in" talk is local folklore and superstition. Just listen to your headphones and don't waste your time with the various methods. I've never bothered with anything I own and everything has sounded great from the first hour of listening.

Thanks for confirming what I thought as well UE...I have been reading these many pages and have come to the same conclusion.I may be kind of new to the upper levels of headphone listening,but I have been a fan of good sounding equipment since all there was were tubes.However,if a person says that their stuff sounds better to them when they do this or that,what the heck,whatever makes them happy...it's their stuff and their perceptions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik 

Don't worry about it. Most of the "burn in" talk is local folklore and superstition. Just listen to your headphones and don't waste your time with the various methods. I've never bothered with anything I own and everything has sounded great from the first hour of listening.

I disagree Erik. Go buy Denon D7000 and see if it sounds good in the first hour or after 125 hours it still sounds the same. The biggest difference I have heard in any can. Also when I put all  my MIT cables in my 2 channel it took a good hundred hours and they the soundstage just snapped in. But folklore thats the first time I have heard that. IMO burn in is real and especially with speakers as they have drivers and it takes a while for them to start loosing up to sound best. But do try the D7000 to see what I am talking about. There was no superstition in the change I and many who have them have heard

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bilavideo 

There's no science behind this. 

That's actually not quite true.  Read Progrockman's psychoacoustics thread or PM him on the Subwoofer test measurements.  The best way to rule out brain burn is quick listening impressions, not sustained.  Simple.  Psychoacoustics and mechanical burn-in are NOT mutually exclusive and can coexist.  But yes wrong forum.

@cageman - If you overdrive, distort or clip a headphone anytime, especially out of the box it can be damaged.  Just read above, not a long thread.

The only burn in that takes place is in your head.  Your ears become accustomed to the sound, and often times that sound gets better as it becomes more familiar.  So yes, burn in is real, but listen to them while it's hapening lol.  

Originally Posted by VulgarDisplay 

The only burn in that takes place is in your head.  Your ears become accustomed to the sound, and often times that sound gets better as it becomes more familiar.  So yes, burn in is real, but listen to them while it's hapening lol.  

When I first bought my PS1000s, the bass was loose and boomy.  I burned them in over several days and I did notice a substantial improvement in sound.  As I wasn't listening to them enough to get "accustomed" to their sound, I don't buy into the reductionist fantasy football placebo effect explanation, at least not entirely.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bilavideo 

Originally Posted by VulgarDisplay 

The only burn in that takes place is in your head.  Your ears become accustomed to the sound, and often times that sound gets better as it becomes more familiar.  So yes, burn in is real, but listen to them while it's hapening lol.  

When I first bought my PS1000s, the bass was loose and boomy.  I burned them in over several days and I did notice a substantial improvement in sound.  As I wasn't listening to them enough to get "accustomed" to their sound, I don't buy into the reductionist fantasy football placebo effect explanation, at least not entirely.

Agreed.  I too avoid psychoacoustics best I can when ABing by limiting my listening time in between swaps.  There is the presumption that those that experience burn-in lack understanding of the scientific method.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anaxilus 

 If you overdrive, distort or clip a headphone anytime, especially out of the box it can be damaged.

To be totally pedantic, yes, overdriving can damage a headphone by stressing the suspension or burning out the voice coil, but clipping damage per se needs a crossover in circuit.  It's a loudspeaker thing.  The crossover sees the clipped "shoulder" of the waveform as a treble frequency and routes way too many watts to a delicate tweeter, which burns out fast.  A headphone reproduces a clipped waveform as distortion, that's all.

Burn in works! 

i was thinking to make a new thread about my interesting question,but i got 2 newbie threads and nobody answered yet,so here my question.

if you want improve some sound caracteristic of your HP,let say bass,they will get more "bassy" if u burn in with a lot of "bassy" music,even if your HP have not so bass personality?

any comment would be really appreciated

Burn in happens with some headphones and the end results could be either drastic or minimal. So yes, burn in happens but don't count on it.

@antberg Burn in doesn't make your headphones bassy by feeding it bassy music.