[bdormer]

I've read alot of posts saying that some cans really need to be burned in before their true sound character emerges.

So what procedure(s) or technique(s) do you recommend for performing a "burn in"?

 

[Mindless]

I recommend listening to the music you like on low/medium/high volumes.

 

[bdormer]

Obviously, "just use it" is one approach. But I've read (mostly here) about people running phones at high (?) volumes for 24-72 hrs straight. I'm assuming there is some scientific method.

 

[Chefguru]

Quote:

Originally posted by bdormer Obviously, "just use it" is one approach. But I've read (mostly here) about people running phones at high (?) volumes for 24-72 hrs straight. I'm assuming there is some scientific method.

Well on some can's that's not a good idea ( grado). I personaly think you should just let it play for the first 24hours and let the rest of the burning in come natural with your own listening.

 

[john_jcb]

IMO headphones change considerably with burn in. The largest changes I believe are due to the diaphragms being exercised. I have used the analogy of a new hardback book. When you first get it it is stiff and the pages want to return to their original state. As you read it you find that after a while you can open it and lay it flat and everything is relaxed. The same sort of thing happens with headphones. What I do is hook them up to my receiver and adjust the volume a little louder than I would listen normally. I tune to a classical 24 hour station and let them play for a few days. All this does is speed the process. If I want to interrupt it to listen there is no harm done. Listening for an hour or 2 a day will get the job done but it takes a long tome for your headphones to reach their full potential.

There are other factors involved with electrical components that are used in amps etc.

 

[PinkFloyd]

try this: http://www.rock-grotto.co.uk/Headphonebreakin.htm

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally posted by bdormer I've read alot of posts saying that some cans really need to be burned in before their true sound character emerges.

...and you believed them? Why? What authority rests on those threads?

Do you believe everything you read?

Why not ask, instead: Why do you people believe in burn-in? What evidence, not hearsay, can you bring for its existence?

Are you familair with the principles of science?

 

[bdormer]

Quote:

...and you believed them? Why? What authority rests on those threads?

Well, if you want to go into this - if nobody believes anything posted here, then why does this forum exist? Surely not just to allow us to practice our typing skills and ruin our eyesight staring at glowing CRTs and LCDs.

To extend the argument - why believe anything you read? If you believe nothing that you read, then no contract is valid, no news is correct and you will be quite an uninformed and isolated individual. Lets burn all the books while we're at it!

If we go even further - why believe anything your senses tell you? After all, your sense organs are just electrochemical transducers (and rather crude ones at that) feeding electrical signals to your brain, which interprets those signals into something (hopefully) meaningful. Or it could be that you are a disembodied brain, sitting in a tank of oxiginated nutrient fluid, interacting with a highly complex computer simulation. Or further still, you are a computer simulation of a human interacting with this forum.

Carrying this far enough, you will discover that nothing is real, nothing truly exists and you do not exist (at which point, *POOF* - you vanish in a puff of smoke).

But I digress... (never thought Philosophy 101 would come in so handy)

Appologies to Ray Bradbury (Farenheit 451) and the Watchowski Brothers (The Matrix).

 

[bdormer]

PinkFloyd (nice handle) -

Thanks for the links! This was just the kind of stuff I was looking for.

bd

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally posted by bdormer Well, if you want to go into this - if nobody believes anything posted here, then why does this forum exist To extend the argument - why believe anything you read?

The question was do you believe 'everything', not 'anything', and the qualification was added about 'hearsay' in lieu of 'evidence', as used in scientific inquiry. The question of burn-in's existence is a matter of fact, not one of judgement, as it would be if it were an aesthetic preference, such as preferring one type of distorion over another.

The question of burn-in is not the same as liking chocolate or strawberry flavored ice-cream. No amount of 'evidence' can make me change my prefrence for one or the other. But if someone says 'headphones change dramatically after a short time of use, and they get better and stay that way forever' , that is a matter for scientific demonstration one way or the other.

Am I making myself clear?

 

[joelongwood]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mike Scarpitti Am I making myself clear?

Crystal.

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally posted by bdormer I've read alot of posts saying that some cans really need to be burned in before their true sound character emerges. So what procedure(s) or technique(s) do you recommend for performing a "burn in"?

You're missing a step in your logical process here:

1. "I've read a lot of posts saying that some cans really need to be burned in before their true sound character emerges."

2. "I accept these statements without question."

3. "So what procedure(s) or technique(s) do you recommend for performing a 'burn in'? "

The point is that premiss 1 must be supported, and it is not. So, premiss 2 is not justified, and of course the conclusion is too.

 

[fewtch]

Quote:

Originally posted by bdormer I've read alot of posts saying that some cans really need to be burned in before their true sound character emerges. So what procedure(s) or technique(s) do you recommend for performing a "burn in"?

Use either bass-heavy music, or low frequency sine waves... you want to shake out the drivers something fierce. Don't be shy with the volume knob, but don't drive the headphones into distortion either. If you play stuff loud, you might want to do it for shorter periods rather than leave it jamming 24/7.

 

[Earwax]

Quote:

Originally posted by Mike Scarpitti But if someone says 'headphones change dramatically after a short time of use, and they get better and stay that way forever' , that is a matter for scientific demonstration one way or the other.

That seems like an easy thing to do. Why hasn't anyone done a well-documented experiment to prove or disprove HP burn-in and put these silly arguments to rest?

 

[Mike Scarpitti]

Quote:

Originally posted by Earwax That seems like an easy thing to do. Why hasn't anyone done a well-documented experiment to prove or disprove HP burn-in and put these silly arguments to rest?

The devoted believers won't even attempt it.