"Burning" Headphones in?

All headhones need at least 200,000 hours of playing before you can even listen to them at all.  Put them on an old CD player on repeat, under a pillow and you can listen to them next christmas. 

Don't worry too much about it. People always state that burn-in on headphone X takes Y hours to get the best sound as if it was a fact carved into stone. Any changes with burn-in are very minimal and it is mostly just a phenomenon of your brain adjusting to a particular type of sound signature. People do not give fatigue levels, mood, and mental state enough credit in how they perceive the sound.

If it will ease your worries, just play some albums when you don't want to use your phones. However, don't let "burn-in" prevent you from listening when you want to or cause you to expect some magical transformation. If you generally dislike the sound coming from your headphones, no amount of burn-in or "brain-in" is going to cause you to suddenly love them. If you truly enjoy your phones, burn-in will happen quickly and naturally and the best part is that you will enjoy the music, rather than waiting for the phones to please you.

I've always noticed a difference with burn in. Usually when I first hear a new pair of headphones, it may have a few issues (semblance, flabby bass, etc.) and during burn in, they'll go away.

And like juantendo said, don't feel like you can't use your headphones before full burn in. But don't listen to one song, think they're awful, and return them. Give them a chance to burn in before making a final decision. 40 hours is pretty short compared to most burn ins (many people say that my headphones, the pro 750's need upwards of 400 hours to burn in).

It's like breaking in a good pair of leather boots. They may be uncomfortable for a little bit, but once they're broken in, you'll like them. :)

Every headphone I've bought, I've been disappointed with when I first listen to them, but over time, I learn to love them. Whether that is "burn in" or "brain in", I can't say.

I read that the D2000 would have a "night and day difference" with burn in. I had them playing pink noise at night at higher than moderate volume for a few nights. I noticed zero change from the first day I had them, was quite sure there would be some as well. Can't complain, liked them day 1 anyway.

Some might swear there's a difference, who knows? I know I won't worry about it, just use them normally and if you notice any burn in, be it mental or 'real', all the better.

You can view one of the videos that Dave Rat made on headphone burn in that can offer another opinion on this. I am more in agreement with juantendo8.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yeAquRyJiw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

I noticed a huge difference with my M50s. At first, like the first couple of songs they really sounded mediocre: muffled, the lows were muddy, the highs weren't even really there, and so on. I really thought they were broken or something. Not even HFI 580 sounded this terrible, and god I hated those headphones. Anyway, after that they opened up quite nicely and needless to say, the M50s got to stay. During the next few days I didn't notice any big differences - maybe the treble becoming more and more clear. However, I didn't quite notice any major differences in any other headphone I've had, even though I believe in a slight burn in.