Burn in volume level

[Luke Thomas]

What volume level would u use throughout the entire burn in process with th Focal Clear?
Thanks

 

[Me x3]

Just use the headphone and enjoy. You'll change much more than the headphone.

 

[Luke Thomas]

Just use the headphone and enjoy. You'll change much more than the headphone.

Thx Definately a controversial topic.

 

[Me x3]

Thx Definately a controversial topic.

Not really.

You can believe the headphone will improve with:
- 48 hours of playing random music at 90dB
- 200 hours of pink noise at 80dB
- 200 hours of music at random loudness
- 5 minutes for each multiple of 40Hz at 87.8dB (up to 20kHz)
- 48 hours of pure bass tones (preferably multiples of 10Hz up to 150Hz)

Or you can alternatively believe that the headphone will get worse with:
- 48 hours of playing random music at 90dB
- 200 hours of pink noise at 80dB
- 200 hours of music at random loudness
- 5 minutes for each multiple of 40Hz at 87.8dB (up to 20kHz)
- 48 hours of pure bass tones (preferably multiples of 10Hz up to 150Hz)

Alternatively one can ask the gods to make the headphone sounds better.
Or shake the headphone (not too fast but not too slow) for 20 minutes, that might asure proper tonal balance.

Now being serious, there's no reason to think the headphone will audibly improve or get any worse with "burn in". Since you'll use the headphone, 'burn in' will take place anyway for good or bad. It will most likely do nothing. I've measured my headphones right out of the box and after many hours, they all measure the same. And that's the way it should be on properly engineered headphones.

What you can do instead is getting used to the sound signature of your new headphone to be able to appreciate its character in its full glory.
Our hearing can be tricky and very comparative then if you're used to a different sound signature it will take some listening time to adjust.
Other great thing to do with new headphones is finding the recordings that make a wonderful match. As with any headphone, some recordings will shine, and some will sound just fine. You know...

Nice pick by the way!
Happy Listening!

 

[buke9]

Haven’t had a dynamic driver headphone change over time for me but a couple of planars definitely did with burn in.

 

[Monsterzero]

Zach,owner and builder of ZMF headphones recommends 100+ hours of burn-in for his headphones....YMMV.

EDIT: to address OPs question I use pink noise on YouTube overnight at listening level,and then the next night lower the volume,and then raise it....etc....

I have zero scientific evidence to validate my methods,but it works for me

 

[Me x3]

Zach,owner and builder of ZMF headphones recommends 100+ hours of burn-in for his headphones....YMMV.

Just as Audeze recommends 1W to 4W for LCD-X when that means pushing them over the extremely unhealthy 126dB SPL. What manufacturers say is not always correct.

Even Zach clearly states that he doesn't believe what he hear as “burn-in” is totally founded on factual data. Then what he hears as burn in is nothing more than a single subjective impression. He also speaks about things like "What will always change though is the user’s ear" and "brain burn-in"
Anyway, everyone is free to weight his subjective impressions at wish.

From ZMF web page:
"Okay – so at this point, you’re probably thinking, DANG – that all seems like a ton of change for something as simple as just letting a headphone play for a few hours. Well, all of it, is subtle, and at least some of it can be attributed to mental factors, as I do not have scientific data to back up the above statements, just experience through making a bunch of headphones. ZMF’s are all measured, but the before burn-in and after graphs have not been compiled and measured in summary. So at the end of the day – it’s up to you, the listener to decide if you need to burn in your ZMF’s as soon as you get them, or, just listen and enjoy."

 

[Luke Thomas]

Thx above. . I just feel better giving the headphones some burn in before I crank it up.

 

[Monsterzero]

Yup...this topic has been debated countless times on this and many other forums.Like Zach I personally have heard a subtle difference in various headphones Ive owned pre/post burn-in(namely ZMF and Beyer DT770s).

In the very least I dont think youre hurting anything/one by burning-in process.Just use common sense and when you feel theyve been given their time,enjoy.

 

[buke9]

Just have to say the burn in on the Mr Speakers Ether-C’s made a big difference in the sound for me. With the HE-400S, HD-6xx’s, K872’s no change that I could tell but on the Ether-C’s yes a big change.

 

[Me x3]

Just have to say the burn in on the Mr Speakers Ether-C’s made a big difference in the sound for me. With the HE-400S, HD-6xx’s, K872’s no change that I could tell but on the Ether-C’s yes a big change.

I've read MrSpeaker's owner on reddit saying the frequency response of their 'v-planar' drivers improve audibly with burn in (100-200 hours)
It would be interesting to know what does improve mean in a context where there's no consensued target response for headphones.
It would also be valuable if he can show how the frequency response of one of their headphones with 'v-planar' drivers improve (change, I would say) with 100-200 hours.

 

[buke9]

I've read MrSpeaker's owner on reddit saying the frequency response of their 'v-planar' drivers improve audibly with burn in (100-200 hours)
It would be interesting to know what does improve mean in a context where there's no consensued target response for headphones.
It would also be valuable if he can show how the frequency response of one of their headphones with 'v-planar' drivers improve (change, I would say) with 100-200 hours.

I will not speak for him but it took 200 hours for me and I was not too vigilant on the burn in though but there was a definite change. My hearing is definitely not perfect but don’t think too bad. I do believe it has to do with the shape of the membrane but I can not say for sure but I know what I heard. There was a change. Believe it or not I don’t care but it was there for me? No other headphone that I have has brought much of a change but this one did period.

 

[Ferdze]

I'm planning to burn-in a pair of headphones @20-200hz as I've already finished 120 hours of pink noise using a tone generator on a windows pc. For those who burn-in their stuff, what is your recommended volume, in % if possible (just like on the volume slider) for burning in on that frequency as 40% volume seems not loud enough

 

[AboveNBeyond]

I'm planning to burn-in a pair of headphones @20-200hz as I've already finished 120 hours of pink noise using a tone generator on a windows pc. For those who burn-in their stuff, what is your recommended volume, in % if possible (just like on the volume slider) for burning in on that frequency as 40% volume seems not loud enough

Bruh, everyone has different sources, some do it from phone jack, some do it from high end daps, the difference in volume can get to 10x on the same "percentage".

 

[sebek]

I connect to the output of a Xiaomi smartphone and let them reproduce pink noise at almost maximum volume - which is not a high volume anyway, because the smartphone has very little power - for a few nights.