[Tim]

Some say to play heavy bass music others have a "burn-in cd" with white noise and a sweep or whatever. Is one way better than the other?

 

[pedxing]

tim,

If you are talking about headphones or speakers, burning in speeds up the process of breaking into the speakers, like breaking into a new pair of shoes.

I have asked this question before. Apparently, there is no wrong way to burn-in headphones unless you blow them out. I found out the best way to burn the headphones in is to just use them normally. You can accelerate the process by playing something loud. Personally, I used classical music with deep bass. Some people use white noise and sweeps. Some speaker manufacturers come with special CD's with the proper signals for optimal burn. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[fredpb]

Don't waste your money on expensive burn in cd's. Just as long as the diaphrams/cones move.

More important the the type of sound is the duration of the break in period. Louder does not necessarily mean the duration shortens.

Best source is a continuous one that won't burn out any equipment. I would not use a $1000 CD player on for 100 hours for a burn in. FM radio, cable radio, cable tv, portable stereo, anything. When not using the headphones, just leave them connected to noise and let them break in.

 

[redshifter]

tim,
i use 12 hours of a dynamic rock mp3 and 12 hours of pink noise mp3 at a loud volume. then just normal use.

 

[kelly]

Since everyone made it sound as if the W2002s were an entirely different headphone if I didn't burn them in for a minimum of 110 hours, I let them run off of a loop of frequency sweeps for the first couple of days, a selection of mp3s for a couple of days then let them run off of a CD looping (just to cover those frequencies the mp3s couldn't produce). Because I use an old Sony DVD player as my transport, it doesn't have basic features like repeat so the PC was a good alternative.

I still insist that the difference is overrated at best, but I figured if I was going to comment on headphones in these parts, I'd best at least follow the burn in tradition lest I be flamed for having not given the headphones a chance.

 

[Hirsch]

Some equipment sounds good out of the box, some needs burn-in. New MIT cables are awful....200 hours later they make music. Same with my "used" Sony MDR-CD3000. Completely awful at the start, and I thought I didn't need much burn-in because they were used. Wrong. After putting a CDP on loop for close to a week, the whole character of the cans came into balance, and I now like them a lot. OTOH, the HD-600 changed very little from out of the box...sounded good from the start and stayed that way. No way to know until you try...if it sounds good, jump on in. If it's new and sounds bad, try burning it in before giving it up. Usually it works. Sometimes it doesn't (The Can That Cannot Be Mentioned Negatively Without Drawing The Wrath Of Neruda sounded bad (to me) and would not respond to burn-in. Luckily, there was a 45-day return period)

 

[Acoustic]

In the case of cables, I am convinced that a burn-in box is required. I have tried many brands of cables, and especially the silver ones, never smoothed out. I borrowed a friend's Nordost box and burned some Acoustic Zen cables for 24 hours. WOW! What a difference. No longer strident in the highs and a better cable. Works for all cables. The music is more real and natural. Others have also told me that certain cables will never break-in on low level signals. You have to "juice them up" to make it happen.

 

[pedxing]

Cables don't have movable parts. How can you burn in the cables? Chemical composition change? Magnetic or electrical fields change the metal structure of the wiring at the molecular level?