[Surfaday]

What is the best/fastest/recommended way to break in a pair of headphones? I've heard of playing the headphones 24/7 for a week and I've heard of playing them 12 hours straight to break them in.

When I got my Grado SR225's, I emailed Grado and they said 2 weeks of normal listening at normal volume levels will do it. Normal listening? What does that constitute? I guess I listen to a cd or so a day, is that normal?

What is your advice regarding this? Timing? Volume? Type of sound to break them in?

And exactly how does the headphone perfomance change, other than as I have noticed, more bass on my 225's than the first time I used it.

If you don't use the headphones for a while, will they "stiffen up" again and need to be warmed up before they will sound right?

Thanks!

 

[blr]

First of all, there is no 100% agreement that headphone break-in is real. Many people think that it is our ears that get used to the sound and not the phones breaking in. I'm not one of them though. I believe that break in is real and occurring to one extent or another depending on the phones. It can be anything from non exsistent to very noticable.
If you want to break-in your phones, just play them for 24-48 hours at levels that you normally listen and with some music that have a good combinatioin of low, mid and high frequencies (something like well recorded rock or large orcestral should be fine). If you don't wanna bother, just start listen to them, they'll break-in anyway.

 

[KR...]

Use a pink nosie track on repeat at normal listening levels for 24 to 50 hours straight.

 

[bootman]

Quote:

Use a pink nosie track on repeat at normal listening levels for 24 to 50 hours straight.

Or you can just tune to a dead FM station frequency. The hiss you hear is the same as pink noise.

 

[dngl]

Or you can just listen to whatever music you like. Or you can go to Purist Audio and pay them $150 for a custom burn in CD.

 

[Jrook]

Headphones are of course small ear speakers that have a diaphram and a voice coil and just like loudspeakers they are affected by the current pulse of the amplifier you are using.
The ear may indeed accommodate to the close proximity of the soundwaves but this is different than the physics of how a transducer is affected by the current that is operating it.
Voice coils are dynamic by design they work better after they have had 20-30 hours of burn in. I had a chance to attend the consumer electronics show a few years ago and I asked a Sennheiser rep if they had an official stance on break-in.
His response " yes, most definitely, they tend to sound their best after 30 hours of use" Try this test. find someone who plans to buy a brand new pair of the cans you already own and listen to them right out of the box. Then put on your phones. I think you will have no problem in discerning the new ones.

 

[Surfaday]

Thanks for all the break-in advice and info! Here's your stupid headphone trick for the day: I went to a local shop to test drive their 580's. I had checked in the the salesman a couple days before and saw that they were set up with an amp and cd player with several Senns to try, the 570, 580, and 590 among them.

Well, I got there today and lo and behold, the amp/cd set up had been sold!! Dang. So I went out to my car to get my pcdp, not ideal, but I was there so I wanted to try the 580s.

I put them in first with some Linkin Park. Sounded pretty good. I pulled out the 580s and plugged in my own SR225s and dang! Did they sound like crap! I couldn't believe the difference in sound! Tinny, unenjoyable sound. I was aghast!

Turns out I hadn't pushed the mini-plug all the way in. After I snapped it in place. Well, needless to say the 225s performed much better. Duh... Sure scared me for a few seconds, though.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

A practical joke I can play using my cheap and cheerful cans:

Like I've told everybody, my AIWAs sound like crap with stock CDs but great using CDRs with custom-burnt EQ. So here's what I'd do:

1. Let my friend hear my cans playing one of my custom CDs (them circumaural cans sure are a novelty out in the streets in Hong Kong

)
2. Friend says 'wow, they sound great! What, they only cost $160?? ($20 USD)
3. Friend goes to buy one.

4.
'Gyah! They sound like c*(^&^p!'--new AIWA HP-X225 owner 'Dude, you haven't broken in your cans yet'--me

5. Having blasted his cans with pink noise at full volume for 24/7:
'Gyah! They *still* sound like c&*()%^$p!'--one-week-old Aiwa owner

'You've got to buy the HeadRoom BlockHead and burn in them Aiwas using that at full volume'--me