[vinn]

Hi, I'm new here. I bought a pair of Audio-Technica CK7 earbuds and long story short, they sound alright but the treble kills my ears. I read some threads about them and decided to burn them in. So I've had them plugged into my Zen Vision M playing music and "pink noise" for about 2 days now, and gave them a listen a little while ago. Still pretty harsh on my ears.

How long until they're fully burned in? Or are these earbuds supposed to be like this? I've been trying all sorts of earbuds lately trying to find the right ones. So far they've either been really muffled, or like these. Sorry if I'm a little new to this, I'm just trying to get a good sounding pair of earbuds.

 

[epithetless]

It took about 80 hours of burn-in to make the treble bearable on my pair. If you're still not digging 'em after that, I would look into different tip options (I used the Shure e2 black soft flex sleeves on mine -- and the Comply T400 foamies would probably also fit) or the possibility that these just aren't your bag.

 

[vinn]

Yeah I'm definitely considering changing the tips too. I got a set of Comply foam tips that I've tried on other earbuds I own and they're really comfortable and have a good seal.

I'll leave them plugged in for the rest of the week and see how that works, thanks.

 

[blazer78]

I don't recommend using pink noise to burn in your CK7's. After I put 20 hours of that on my CK7 (at a reasonable volume), it seemed to have lost its high end sparkle. The midrange smoothened up and the bass became more controlled and less boomy, but other than that, it seemed to have lost its definition.

Burn in by just playing music through it like you normally would when listening to whatever source you use

Tips, change definately. The stock tips created a strong pressure in my ears and kept slipping out and didnt give me a secure fit. I changed to e2c yellow foams and all was well since that. Takes a while to get the tip on, but well worth it. I recommend the Shure Black Foam tips because they are tapered and will last longer than yellow foams which get soiled in a short amount of time.

 

[vinn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blazer78 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't recommend using pink noise to burn in your CK7's. After I put 20 hours of that on my CK7 (at a reasonable volume), it seemed to have lost its high end sparkle. The midrange smoothened up and the bass became more controlled and less boomy, but other than that, it seemed to have lost its definition.

Guess mine lost their definition then, because I've left them doing that for a few days now. Probably should have asked here first, oh well.

 

[pedxing]

Over time, my CK7 seemed to have burned in and it sounds flabbier than before.

If you haven't noticed, the housing vibrates quite a bit, even at medium listening levels. Also, if your ear canals are too narrow, the tips may fold into itself and block the bass. I know the largest tips do this to me and I fell back to the medium tips.

I out grew the CK7. I am considering going back to get some real IEMs.

 

[epithetless]

Pink noise only accelerates what normal music would do naturally...so any loss of definition one senses would eventually happen anyway. In my experience, the CK7's highs were shrill, not sparkly, to begin with -- so their taming was a welcome change. Remember, vinn, the sound you prefer -- and how you perceive a headphone's signature -- is a very subjective thing. There are very few absolutes in this hobby. It's a matter of trusting your ears (...and being open to change).

 

[vinn]

I understand what you're saying, and I know all of this is very subjective. I'm trying to replace the Zune Premium earbuds that came with my Zune 80. I didn't like them at first, but after using them for a while they started to sound really nice, and weren't very shrill. My only complaint was the serious lack of bass, it's almost non-existent. A while ago they broke, or so I thought. So I've been trying to find something better since. I later found that it was just the little grill inside the earbud being blocked by a little earwax I couldn't see, which explained why the volume was so low. But I'm still trying to find something just a little better.