[Scott549]

I keep reading about headphones having to be burned in. Is this a real phenomenon or is it imagined? It makes sense to me that a person's ears and brain would take time to adjust to a new sound. In other words, that the user, not the headphones, needs to be "burned in." But does just running the headphones for a set number of hours make them sound different? That seems doubtful to me. They could just do that in the factory, couldn't they?

Has there ever been a test where people took two sets of identical new headphones, except one set had had music played on them for a set number of hours, and then it was determined whether people could tell the difference between the "burned in" headphones and the ones that weren't?

 

[Snicewicz]

Oh boy not this again. A simple search turns up this thread:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/burn-facts-290627/

Save yourself the time lol...

 

[Nocturnal310]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott549 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I keep reading about headphones having to be burned in. Is this a real phenomenon or is it imagined? It makes sense to me that a person's ears and brain would take time to adjust to a new sound. In other words, that the user, not the headphones, needs to be "burned in." But does just running the headphones for a set number of hours make them sound different? That seems doubtful to me. They could just do that in the factory, couldn't they? Has there ever been a test where people took two sets of identical new headphones, except one set had had music played on them for a set number of hours, and then it was determined whether people could tell the difference between the "burned in" headphones and the ones that weren't?

No need to search..

see the Stickies. The controversy has been explained.

I am an Agnostic Believer.

 

[krmathis]

Its real!

 

[G-man]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nocturnal310 /img/forum/go_quote.gif No need to search.. see the Stickies. The controversy has been explained. I am an Agnostic Believer.

lol, soo true for soo many things.

 

[Tiemen]

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/wha...-story-327221/

 

[BIG POPPA]

Burn in and warming up I believe in.

 

[GordonFreeman]

I know its real but not to the extent some people here will lead you to believe. 1000 hours for a SS portable amp? No. Few hundred hours for a new tube amp or for a set of K701s? Yes. Biggest difference I can relate to you were my 701s, they were very shrill when I received them and now they are smoother than they were out of the box. I didn't keep track of the time but I would say about 100 hours.

 

[xnothingpoetic]

Not to the extent many make it out to be.

 

[berniebennybernard]

My theory of burn-in = your ears getting use to the sound signature

 

[sunseeker888]

Burn in is real. Burn in is real. Burn in is real.

For me anyways. I am somewhat skeptical about burning in circuitry, but speaker cones, even the small ones inside headphones need burn-in to reach full potential. Cables need some burn-in too, but I'm talking 1 hours or less. Just make sure you use them all in the same direction.

 

[Duggeh]

It exists, but not to the K701/Hornet level. They don't have burn in, they have some electronic version of continental drift.

 

[AudioCats]

please consult your EE instructors or computer science professors.
They will likely also tell you that power cords are totally jokes too, all power cords are all the same. the "miles and miles of power wiring" theory.....

Why not do some tests and figure it out yourself?

 

[G-man]

to me burn in is real, because you believe it is (not the magic story kind of believe). you pay more attention, and so enjoy it more. although it probably improves the sq, barely so. that my two cents.

 

[BIG POPPA]

Try it out with tubes?