[lousyreeds1]

Hi all,

I just invested in my first serious headphone purchase: a pair of W1000s. They should arrive early next week. Does anyone have any break in experience with these? How long will I have to suffer? Really looking forwarding to hearing these with my Nottingham turntable.

Many thanks.

 

[Xenafor]

Hahah, I would never think of something not being burned in and the period of burn in as "suffering"...it's all part of the experience. Things improve, but a pair of good headphones will seldom sound just unbearable only to become heavenly.

I recall that ATH woodies have a longer burn-in time, I believe someone claimed several hundred hours on the W5000s, so I'd assume the W1000s would take you quite a bit of time too.

Best of luck,

Michael

 

[munkeeboi83]

If you're very impatient like one of my buddies, you could perhaps wrap up your headphones in some towels or old clothes and play test tones or pink noise for a few days straight and they should be ready in a few days. As for myself, I rather break things in naturally and like to hear the sound evolve and change over time. Patience my friend.

 

[lousyreeds1]

Coming from the speaker world, there are lots of models that really do sound bad at the get go, only to turn into beauties after a few hundred hours. I think a lot of people would corroborate this experience. Perhaps it's different with most headphones, and this is what I'm trying to find out. Thanks for the towel advice.

 

[borisov57]

These things needs a lot of break in time. I have them for four months now, and they are gorgeous. When they were new, they sounded a bit boring, with little bass, just to polite. Now their bass is very defined and strong, when it needs to, highs are crystal clear and they have unbelivable level of midrange details. As you say, they turn in to a beauty. But they need powerful amplifier, direct coupled szekeres works good with them, if you are in DIY scene.

I wish you many happy hours with them.

 

[lousyreeds1]

Thanks borisov. That's good to know. Actually, one of the things that attracted me to the W1000 was the ease with which they can be driven. My understanding is that it's really about quality, not number of watts here, but I hope I'm not wrong! Within the next few months, I'll be pairing these with a Yamamoto HA-02.

Thanks again to all.

 

[ken36]

I remember vividly my experience with the W1000 break-in. It was a great experience right out of the box and got a lot better over time. They don't need much burning, say 150 hours. Right now, with this thread, I am wondering what ever moved me to sell them TWICE.

 

[jbloudg20]

The best break in for those phones, is to rip out the drivers, and put decent ones in.

 

[lousyreeds1]

Thanks jbloudg10, really helpful. To the rest, I'm enjoying hearing about your experiences, and I'm excited to get my hands on these!

 

[warubozu]

I'd agree with ken36, my pair of W1000s needed between 150-200 hours of burn in for things to settle down. The Yamamoto HA-02 amp would be an ideal match for them as there are many postive comments posted about this pairing.

Unfortunately I don't have the ideal amp to pair with my W1000s so they don't sound as good as they should to my ears.

 

[thrillmetoo]

I think you really enjoy your W1000's from the first minute. I'm convinced that burn-in of W1000's is much more getting accustomed to their signature than a mechanical issue. Though I have to admit that if anything got better, it is the bass.

 

[mrarroyo]

I bought a pair of used W1000. For some reason I do not believe they got much use because they sounded harsh when I received them. Fast forward 200 hours of burn in and I am enjoying the heck out of them. So much so that I am thinking of selling one of my favorite pieces of gear to finance the purchase of a W5000.

 

[lousyreeds1]

Great to hear all of this. Now I know what to expect. I've heard that some actually prefer the W1000 to the W5000. Hoping I'm one of those

 

[wgallupe]

My W1000s powered by a Bottlehead S.E.X. amp took about 100 hours to settle down. They blow away my AKG K271 Studios.

 

[lousyreeds1]

Received the W1000s today. Some signs of brilliance, though I have to say they don't sound very coherent yet, and they're bright. But I'm going to reserve real judgement for a few weeks. They'll spend their nights under a towel bumping Stravinsky's Rite of Spring