Burn-in advice - Page 3

True. The thing with my UHA4 though was the clarity focus on the mid-range (it became very noticeable after 50 hours of burn in. Like the spotlight was on the mid-range. Not exactly emphasis but transparency/clarity was focused on that area over the other 2 frequencies which I really like. It draws your attention to the mid-range and makes for a very enjoyable sound. But then again you'll get comments from people who don't think an amp can have transparency properties or add more of it to a recording. This is not the case at all IMO. With the UHA6 MKII it can actually go overboard for my tastes and show you too much of the flaws in a recording. Even flaws that are not apart of the actual track itself but from conversion from analog to digital (digital artifacts) YMWV.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by lee730 

True. The thing with my UHA4 though was the clarity focus on the mid-range (it became very noticeable after 50 hours of burn in. Like the spotlight was on the mid-range. Not exactly emphasis but transparency/clarity was focused on that area over the other 2 frequencies which I really like. It draws your attention to the mid-range and makes for a very enjoyable sound. But then again you'll get comments from people who don't think an amp can have transparency properties or add more of it to a recording. This is not the case at all IMO. With the UHA6 MKII it can actually go overboard for my tastes and show you too much of the flaws in a recording. Even flaws that are not apart of the actual track itself but from conversion from analog to digital (digital artifacts) YMWV.
 

Amps and DACs do make a difference, I will definitely admit that.  Each one with it's own slight properties. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc-holliday 

Look im not "for or against" the burn in theory. In fact my jvc s500 come in today ot tmrrw and i plan on burning them just like everyone says you have to on the s500 thread....
But the main question that makes me scratch my head on burn in..... Why does burn in ALWAYS improve sound? On everything including amps and even people claim cables burn in for the better
You never have a guy say "yo joe, i loved the sound of these Acme 1000 headphones out of the box but now....... They burnt in and are horrible".
I dont think i have ever seen such a statement once on here...... Correct me if i am wrong.

It doesn't always.  We generally are able to pick out positives much better than we can negatives.  So it's easier for us humans to see the good in things (unless there is no good).  I have had a few pairs of headphones get worse with burn in.  As I stated already, the Dunu Hephaes is a roller coaster ride.  It went from decent (controlled bass, slightly lacking midrange, decent highs), to downright horrible (bloated, nasty, lacking midrange, lacking high end).  Then go back to something decent.  The W4Rs with burn in got worse with the sub-bass (I lost a little bit of presence in the texture region). The SOL Republic Tracks Ultra lost midrange with burn in as well, which was sort of a bummer :(

Remember there are three parts of burn in, driver, brain and fit.  The fit burn in depends on the type of headphone.  Pads and tips do need to break in and conform to the shape of your ear.  This is what generally creates the positive outcome.  When have you ever heard of a better seal making things sound worse? XD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc-holliday 

Look im not "for or against" the burn in theory. In fact my jvc s500 come in today ot tmrrw and i plan on burning them just like everyone says you have to on the s500 thread....
But the main question that makes me scratch my head on burn in..... Why does burn in ALWAYS improve sound? On everything including amps and even people claim cables burn in for the better
You never have a guy say "yo joe, i loved the sound of these Acme 1000 headphones out of the box but now....... They burnt in and are horrible".
I dont think i have ever seen such a statement once on here...... Correct me if i am wrong.

Because there are also people that believe in brain burnin. Bottom line is after time, your ears/brain adjust and all of a sudden its like, hey these sound so much better.

I came in this thread fully expecting to read through 3 pages of flaming and warring, but what do I get instead, civilized discussions!? What has this world come to?!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc-holliday 

Look im not "for or against" the burn in theory. In fact my jvc s500 come in today ot tmrrw and i plan on burning them just like everyone says you have to on the s500 thread....
But the main question that makes me scratch my head on burn in..... Why does burn in ALWAYS improve sound? On everything including amps and even people claim cables burn in for the better
You never have a guy say "yo joe, i loved the sound of these Acme 1000 headphones out of the box but now....... They burnt in and are horrible".
I dont think i have ever seen such a statement once on here...... Correct me if i am wrong.

Actually, the S500 for me was like "Yikes, these sounds like $30 headphones" out of the box, then after 50hrs burning "C**p, now they sound like $10 headphones".

It was only after 100hrs + that the sound started to become coherent and now 500hrs+ later, they sound like $250-$300 headphones.

To be fair, I also have iems which didn't change much from burn in, my Vsonic GR02 BE did not improve further beyond the 50hrs of burning. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yggdrassilious 

I came in this thread fully expecting to read through 3 pages of flaming and warring, but what do I get instead, civilized discussions!? What has this world come to?!

I guess the world has realised that there's less than 4 more months before 21 Dec 2012 to enjoy their audio gear ! ...and realised the pointlessness of flaming and warring about something so trival.

I don't see how this can't be tested. Simply round up people who believe in burn-in, give them earphones with the burn-in and without the burn-in, and just see how successful they are statistically. Problem solved.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sabuser 

I don't see how this can't be tested. Simply round of people who believe in burn-in, and give them earphones with the burn-in and without the burn-in, and just see how successful they are statistically. Problem solved.

Give me a new pair of IE7s or FX700s and I'll tell you which ones is which blind folded between a new pair and a used pair. Both sound like sh%t brand new.