Does burn in happen this fast????

[Matthew-Spaltro]

I was listening to my new ATH W100s last night and I listened for a while and then I went into the bathroom to **** and shave. 30 minutes later I came out and started listening to the cans again. And the bass seemed to sound more upfront and the cans just sounded better peroid. My question is can burn in happen that fast?

 

[The Quality Guru]

Quote:

Originally posted by Matthew-Spaltro I was listening to my new ATH W100s last night and I listened for a while and then I went into the bathroom to **** and shave. 30 minutes later I came out and started listening to the cans again. And the bass seemed to sound more upfront and the cans just sounded better peroid. My question is can burn in happen that fast?

Too much information! Too much information.

No, no, just kiddding.

Anyway, as for that change in sound . . . My answer is 'no,' burn in shouldn't happen that fast, and I think if it did, it would go against one of the most crucial aspects of burn-in, which is time. To say it simply, burn-in (or the kind we're familiar with . .) requires time to occur, because the drivers need to 'loosen-up," or break-in.

And as for the change in sound you heard . . . um . . maybe you exerted yourself a tad too much while crapping?

Did you shave and crap at the same time? I've heard that can have bad results, too.

 

[Matthew-Spaltro]

Quote:

Originally posted by The Quality Guru Too much information! Too much information. No, no, just kiddding. Anyway, as for that change in sound . . . My answer is 'no,' burn in shouldn't happen that fast, and I think if it did, it would go against one of the most crucial aspects of burn-in, which is time. To say it simply, burn-in (or the kind we're familiar with . .) requires time to occur, because the drivers need to 'loosen-up," or break-in. And as for the change in sound you heard . . . um . . maybe you exerted yourself a tad too much while crapping? Did you shave and crap at the same time? I've heard that can have bad results, too.

I see your point. But, it DID SEEM to sound better. It must be my imagination

 

[Anders]

Yes, but that is not all burn-in. I have an experience of some components sounding very rough during the first hour or two - three hours. Sometimes there seems to be a first cycle of burn-in with very fast improvement. But then you have to expect a secondary slow phase of burn-in for 25 - 50 - 100 hours or so.
You could try to have the phones going for 20 hours at a moderate volume when you sleep and are out to speed up the burn-in (with a tuner or a CD repeat as source). This also makes it easier to monitor the burn-in which otherwise is very gradual.

 

[Matthew-Spaltro]

Quote:

Originally posted by Anders Yes, but that is not all burn-in. I have an experience of some components sounding very rough during the first hour or two - three hours. Sometimes there seems to be a first cycle of burn-in with very fast improvement. But then you have to expect a secondary slow phase of burn-in for 25 - 50 - 100 hours or so. You could try to have the phones going for 20 hours at a moderate volume when you sleep and are out to speed up the burn-in (with a tuner or a CD repeat as source). This also makes it easier to monitor the burn-in which otherwise is very gradual.

Yep, that sounds right to me.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Just a couple of questions:

Does your shaving cream have any alcohol or other vapours?
Are those the only two things you did?

It may sound like I am joking, but you may have done something holistic like dilated your corollaries and that may have been what improved the sound. The next time you have to ...ahem... shave, try listening to the headphones again and see if they haven't regressed.

 

[Lizard_1]

Suddenly ... this girl just turned into a woman. Why rush it?

 

[elipsis]

Maybe you strained too hard, like "seeing spots" but aural?

 

[millerdog]

I bought some senn hd470 for my pcdp and thought I was going to be cool. Then I came to this forum and bought some grado sr60s. I had a chance to listen to the grados first so the senns just kinda sat. Then I read all this stuff about burn in.
Right off, the grados sounded better than the senns...but the grados had some distortion that dissappeared with time(burn in?). Everytime I tried to compare the two the senns were like super bright! So I put the senns on another pcdp I had and let them rock over night.
The highs mellowed out. I have since lent the senns to a friend who is flying to michigan. I hope he "burns" them in for me. As far as the grados went, they just got better.
I don't know if I just got used to listening to the grados, or they broke in. I could definately hear a difference in the senns with some burn in time though. From now on I will burn my headphones in. But damn! It's so hard not to listen to new phones!
just a thought,
md
by the way, I got a set of ATH A9Xs on the way and will burn em in for at least over night until I listen to them(yeah right!).

 

[Jeff Guidry]

I'll agree with you Matthew, because when I bought my V6's, I immediately began listening to a CD and listened to it all the way through. THe CD player immediately began playing the CD again from the beginning, and I noticed a definite change in the sound from the first time I heard the song an hour ago. It may partially be your mind filling in the blanks and letting you hear what your brain thinks is good sound, or it may well be that some mechanical break-in has occured.

?

 

[Tomcat]

Matthew,
there's not just burn-in, there's warm-up as well. In my experience, about anything will benefit from some warm-up: amps, sources, headphones. What you heard has probably been more warm-up-related than break-in-related.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Burn-in is a mental phenomenon. Your brain is adjusting to something new. It has nothing to do with any physical change in the headphones.

 

[NotoriousBIG_PJ]

"Burn-in is a mental phenomenon. Your brain is adjusting to something new. It has nothing to do with any physical change in the headphones."
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Noooo!!!! Please don't start this argument again.

I have a feeling the w100 owners would not agree with your comments...

I found that my beyers sounded better on my second listen, needed some time to warm up maybe?

Biggie.

 

[Blighty]

Quote:

Originally posted by Cousin Eddie Burn-in is a mental phenomenon. Your brain is adjusting to something new. It has nothing to do with any physical change in the headphones.

This is a hotly debated point. The argument against break-in does have merit. Much of the sound-change phenomenon may have more to do with psychoacoustics rather than mechanics. I thought I noticed some change in all the Grados I have used but I would not bet my life on it. I tried to notice a change in the ATH-W100s after 100+hrs but I really cannot say for sure how much of it is in my head. I certainly would not bet my life on either position. Just to place things in perspective, when I am really exhausted, my headphones and loudspeakers sound very different(i.e. worse) then when I am relaxed and attentive and also different from when I am alert and energetic. Even things as trivial as mood and the weather seem to have more influence than minute mechanical changes in headphone drivers over a period of time. The only way to know for sure is to purchase a new headphone of the same model and run a blind test.

 

[Tomcat]

Quote:

This is a hotly debated point.

Yes.

Quote:

The argument against break-in does have merit.

No.