Does burn in really do anything?

Was it Tyll that did an article on the T50RP's, showing significant differences with burn in?

I think it changes but it's prob all in my head, who knows.

Not really. Subjectively speaking, I've never heard burn-in before, and that's supposed to happen with my Ultrasones. However some burn in tests do show a change in distortion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parall3l 

Not really. Subjectively speaking, I've never heard burn-in before, and that's supposed to happen with my Ultrasones. However some burn in tests do show a change in distortion.

I've only heard it with orthos

But they are still some who swear by burning in! Maybe its really all in the brain :/

Then again, what is sound?

It's the perception of what one hears, which is also controlled by the brain.  No matter how you look at it, anything audio related is FAKE, I TELL YOU!

On a more serious note: I do think burn in exists, but once again I think it's highly based on the person listening.  To some, subtle differences are huge through the works of their audio imagination, and to others who lack that imagination, amplifiers all sound the same.

The senses and the mind do lie to you. Measurements are very important in such matters. And they do show some changes, but when you read some stories from some audiophiles, you have the prove that mind is the thing that changes the most. When I read about player burn in or cable burn in I find that rather amusing.

So, the short answer would be, some differences do appear in time if some elastic parts are involved (such as drivers), but they are subtler than many people pretend.

Yes, the surrounds on the speaker loosen up over time which is why headphone designers burn in the drivers before doing R&D. Same with car companies, etc. Most noobs around here don't believe in this, but all high end speaker designers and headphone designers consider this in their development. So, its up to you who you choose to believe. Frankly, I know what I know and don't care what anyone else thinks. - just my $.02

You ever notice that after a driver "burns in" it always sounds better not worse? :)

Burn is is real though. It takes between 3 to 5 seconds.

I believe it's all in the head, I've never really liked my UM3X sound until i had no choice to use it at which point after a while you don't notice the smaller sound stage. I just takes a while to get used to the different sound of different headphones/IEM

Take this to the SOUND SCIENCE thread in the forums you will find plenty about it there if you do a search, maybe even too much to read.

http://www.head-fi.org/f/133/sound-science