[flight567]

well... i've had my senn hd 428's for about a while now. and i'd say that they are reasonably burnt in (if there is such a thing.) and i was wondering. if i where to buy another pair and put the two together and see what someone who has never heard these headphones before listen and see what they think... would that answer whether burn in is real or is just psyco-acoustic or if it even exists?

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

well... i've had my senn hd 428's for about a while now. and i'd say that they are reasonably burnt in (if there is such a thing.) and i was wondering. if i where to buy another pair and put the two together and see what someone who has never heard these headphones before listen and see what they think... would that answer whether burn in is real or is just psyco-acoustic or if it even exists?

No. There's too much variation between any two headphones of the same model. The only way to really prove burn-in would be to measure the same headphone fresh out of the box and every few hours until 100 (or more) hours have passed. You also have to make sure that the headphone's position hasn't changed at all, because that has a large effect on sound.
 
One of the reasons burn-in may exist is the headphone pads collapse slightly from the clamping force, so over time the driver gets closer to the ear. A good way to account for that would be to have two dummy heads for measurements and two headphones. Put both on and measure both headphones, then play sound through only one and test both every few hours. Changes in the not-played headphone are caused by pads, changes in the played headphone that don't exist in the not-played headphone are caused by drivers.