[harkamus]

I never believed in burn in before, but I wanted to try something different. So, I've been burning my cans in since I got them. I was thinking to leave them on for 2 - 3 days nonstop, playing a selection of songs I put on a playlist. My question is if 72 hours of nonstop music is fine for any cans, or if I should burn them in in increments of several hours at a time.

I skimmed the sticky. Didn't think I saw anything about if it was damaging to let cans run in for several days at a time.

EDIT: So far going on 7 hours straight.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Mine had all the burn-in they needed after just a few hours FWIW.

 

[harkamus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer Mine had all the burn-in they needed after just a few hours FWIW.

Yea. I was getting tired of letting them play on their own so to speak. Guess I'll turn them off tomorrow night and enjoy them whether they are burned in or not. Hehe. The majority of me still thinks burn in is worthless anyway.

 

[megawzrd]

I think its a coin toss...

The way I look at burn-in is trying to compress many hours of use in a short time so you can get the change in sound to plateau. I think rest is just as important in the cycle of use or rather the changes from playing to rest are very important. I do about 12 hours a day...from the time I get home from work and while I sleep. I don't like leaving em on while im away. So I get about a 12/12 hour rest/play cycle and that works for me. I don't see anything wrong with going days straight, or breaking it down a few hours at a time...you'll get there eventually either way.

 

[Carl]

It's up to you, but I don't think leaving them going nonstop for a few days is going to hurt them.

It took well over a 100 hours for my SA5ks to fully burn in.

 

[RnB180]

why dont you believe in headphone burn in?

the physical drivers do indeed need to soften up and break in.

 

[cheechoz]

I usually don't run my amp continuously for days straight, rather I shut it down every 20 hours, and then come back again the next morning!

My new rule of burn-in is that when I get about 100 hours on them, I just stop the, under the pillow treatment, and start enjoying the music from there on!

 

[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheechoz My new rule of burn-in is that when I get about 100 hours on them, I just stop the, under the pillow treatment, and start enjoying the music from there on!

A good approach.

 

[ken36]

I am not much of a believer, but I do it anyway.

 

[cheechoz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl A good approach.

I also believe in break-in, but I don't think that it takes hundreds of hours like many people say. Just a few days of solid playback, and you can pretty much just start enjoying your music the normal way!

 

[Thaddy]

I'm not saying that burn in isn't real...but come on. Just put them on your head and listen to them. How would you know if they ever burned in if you never heard them going through any changes? You're missing out on all the fun man, so quit torturing yourself and listen to your new cans.

 

[harkamus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thaddy I'm not saying that burn in isn't real...but come on. Just put them on your head and listen to them. How would you know if they ever burned in if you never heard them going through any changes? You're missing out on all the fun man, so quit torturing yourself and listen to your new cans.

Hehe. I put them on when they first came. Believe me. I tried to listen as critically as I could as I always do when I test headphones. I must have listened to 2 hours straight when they came, and then some more after I took a break. However, I guess my ears aren't sensitive enough to pick up changes from burn-in...which is why I'm skeptical. But, *I'll do it anyway for the sake of doing it.*

EDIT: I keep saying "my." These are in fact my brother's headphones. LOL. I just have them atm because he's slacking on finishing his amp.

 

[spinali]

While I can't speak about your headphones, I'll venture that the most efficient way of handling burn-in is through the juducious use of white noise.

I have a white noise disk I've created from sound samples online, and expanded to an entire CD. Since white noise contains all of the sound spectrum, it exercises your drivers continually. I haven't done the math on it, but I'd bet that five minutes of white noise burn-in is worth a few hours of plain music.

Turn on the noise at just under comfortable listening levels. Do not use an amp, and do not crank the volume.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinali Turn on the noise at just under comfortable listening levels. Do not use an amp, and do not crank the volume.

Why this? When you apply dedicated break-in at all, it's for accelerating the process which would also occur during normal listening. So to make full use of dedicated break-in, by all means crank the volume up!

It won't hurt your headphones as long as you avoid distortion.

I for one use bass-heavy music -- contains the whole spectrum and forces the membrane to make large excursions, which theoretically is the best thing for increasing elasticity. But I admit that there seems to be some benefit from high(er) frequencies as well, just don't know the mechanism behind it.
.

 

[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thaddy I'm not saying that burn in isn't real...but come on. Just put them on your head and listen to them. How would you know if they ever burned in if you never heard them going through any changes? You're missing out on all the fun man, so quit torturing yourself and listen to your new cans.

I listen to my headphones as they break in, too. It's nice to listen as they go from listening in a toilet with socks over your ears, to beautiful.