[dw6928]

precisely why I think the diaphragm construction is so critical to the breakin. It affects some more than others

 

[AngryGuy]

All these reports about a drastic change after 300(!) hour burn-in are pretty hard to believe, but I can't wait to hear my K701s after they are broken in properly if they are true. I was a little disappointed with the bass of the K701s out of the box but either they are breaking in some or I am getting used to it because I am really enjoying them now. They still have very few hours on them though if the 300 hour burn in is true.

Does anyone's elses left cup creak a little as you move it back and forth? It gets to a certain point while swiveling where it "sticks" a little and the plastic rubs a bit and makes a creaking noise. The right cup moves around freely and doesn't stick at all. I just want to know if it's common or not. I'm becoming pretty anal about it.

 

[ken36]

I just put another 100 hours on my K701s. I wasn't happy with the Black Dragon/XLR presentation. Now with a total of 400 hours (100 on the BD) everything seems together. Beautiful sound. Happy now.

It begs the question: Did the cable need some cooking or did I just need a few hours of acclimation? Hmmmmmmmm?

 

[laxx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AngryGuy /img/forum/go_quote.gif All these reports about a drastic change after 300(!) hour burn-in are pretty hard to believe, but I can't wait to hear my K701s after they are broken in properly if they are true. I was a little disappointed with the bass of the K701s out of the box but either they are breaking in some or I am getting used to it because I am really enjoying them now. They still have very few hours on them though if the 300 hour burn in is true. Does anyone's elses left cup creak a little as you move it back and forth? It gets to a certain point while swiveling where it "sticks" a little and the plastic rubs a bit and makes a creaking noise. The right cup moves around freely and doesn't stick at all. I just want to know if it's common or not. I'm becoming pretty anal about it.

The creak goes away after a bit of use, I think mine was completely gone after about 100 hours.

 

[laxx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ken36 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just put another 100 hours on my K701s. I wasn't happy with the Black Dragon/XLR presentation. Now with a total of 400 hours (100 on the BD) everything seems together. Beautiful sound. Happy now. It begs the question: Did the cable need some cooking or did I just need a few hours of acclimation? Hmmmmmmmm?

How many hours did you ahve on your K701's before this 100 hour burn in? Also, did you listen to them during this recent burn in? Or did you just put them to the side?

If the cables are fresh/new, I'd say it's probably the cables that burned in.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davesrose /img/forum/go_quote.gif Doesn't sound very logical to me. It would be one faulty headphone if a manufacturer couldn't design a driver that would sound consistant for each duplicate fabrication.

It's well known among speaker builders that speaker drivers change their parameters after a certain operation time -- I have measured this myself with various chassis, and there was no exception to the rule. Think of tennis rackets or guitars: They must be faulty if the manufacturers don't manage to guarantee a constant string tension!

Quote:

Originally Posted by AngryGuy /img/forum/go_quote.gif All these reports about a drastic change after 300(!) hour burn-in are pretty hard to believe, but I can't wait to hear my K701s after they are broken in properly if they are true. I was a little disappointed with the bass of the K701s out of the box but either they are breaking in some or I am getting used to it because I am really enjoying them now. They still have very few hours on them though if the 300 hour burn in is true.

Every time I see people getting skeptic about 300 (!) or more hours of break-in, I ask myself: Why are 25 or 50 hours any more plausible if one considers break-in a real phenomenon at all?


It took me about 400 hours to finally be satisfied with the sound of my personal K 701. Now I'm absolutely happy with it. It's not that it sounds perfect, but which headphone does!

.

 

[Balisarda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaZZ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Every time I see people getting skeptical about 300 (!) or more hours of break-in, I ask myself: Why are 25 or 50 hours any more plausible if one considers break-in a real phenomenon at all?

If the break-in is mechanical and something is loosening up, it makes sense that it would happen sooner rather than later. If a component requires two weeks of 24-hour use to loosen up--hmm. The three-pipe congestion of the soundstage that I noticed cleared up within several hours on the first day.

 

[Balisarda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaZZ /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's well known among speaker builders that speaker drivers change their parameters after a certain operation time -- I have measured this myself with various chassis, and there was no exception to the rule.

If you measured the changes by objective means, then I grant you may well be right. In a spirit of curiosity, how did you measure these changes?

Thanks!
Eric.

 

[spinali]

Quote:

It took me about 400 hours to finally be satisfied with the sound of my personal K 701. Now I'm absolutely happy with it. It's not that it sounds perfect, but which headphone does!

Interesting how things kind of settle in after about 325 hours. If you've looked at those drivers, they're quite different from the Grado or Senn designs. I kind of liken it to a stiff piece of thin metal gradually becoming more flexible - which is exactly what's happening. Anyway, since ASR's great post, there's quite a bit less debate on the matter. New K701 users are advised to hold on to their phones and enjoy their evolution.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Balisarda /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you measured the changes by objective means, then I grant you may well be right. In a spirit of curiosity, how did you measure these changes?

Here's a link to my post which explains the procedure.
.

 

[JaZZ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Balisarda /img/forum/go_quote.gif If the break-in is mechanical and something is loosening up, it makes sense that it would happen sooner rather than later.

Why? -- How long does a pair of shoes take to wear in? It depends on the type of leather I'd guess. And according to my experience it happens rather later than sooner.

BTW, the above described 15 hours of heavy break-in with speaker chassis may very well equate with 150 hours of normal operation. And as you see, the default parameters are still not achieved.
.

 

[ken36]

Quote:

Originally Posted by laxx /img/forum/go_quote.gif How many hours did you ahve on your K701's before this 100 hour burn in? Also, did you listen to them during this recent burn in? Or did you just put them to the side? If the cables are fresh/new, I'd say it's probably the cables that burned in.

BD hardwired to the K701s. It most probably was the cable that needed to be cooked. I'm guilty of ignoring that, until last week. Now all is cool.

 

[Davesrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaZZ /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's well known among speaker builders that speaker drivers change their parameters after a certain operation time -- I have measured this myself with various chassis, and there was no exception to the rule. Think of tennis rackets or guitars: They must be faulty if the manufacturers don't manage to guarantee a constant string tension!

A headphone driver is not the same as a speaker driver, and neither are the same as a guitar string.

A guitar string goes through much more vibrational force then a headphone driver and doesn't go out of pitch by the number of plucks it receives. It's more likely to change pitch with change in temperature and humidity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaZZ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Every time I see people getting skeptic about 300 (!) or more hours of break-in, I ask myself: Why are 25 or 50 hours any more plausible if one considers break-in a real phenomenon at all? It took me about 400 hours to finally be satisfied with the sound of my personal K 701. Now I'm absolutely happy with it. It's not that it sounds perfect, but which headphone does! .

To turn it around....why is 300 to 400 hours a magic number for burn-in then?? Using this logic: if headphone diaphragms are really that volatile, then wouldn't they keep on changing indefinitely? I've only had one headphone that I could have perceived as having burn-in, and that happened in the first 25 hours. Maybe its voice coils weren't wound up tightly so it took a few hours of settling

If it gets to be longer then a day, then I can't see how you can remember the finite details of the sonic characteristics of a fresh driver. I do believe that a headphone never completely changes its sonic character. I replaced my 8 year old HD580 drivers not too long ago: when I first popped in one of the new drivers, I compared it with an 8 year old driver. Guess what? They sounded identical. My mood and perceptions were the same since I was listening to new and old simultaneously.

Also, your link for your speaker measurements seem inconclusive. A: your main stance is that it takes well over 25 hours to get beneficial burn-in. B: did you measure the speakers again after leaving them off for over a day (to make sure that they don't return to an "initial state")?

But I'm not sure if we should continue a debate with speaker burn-in. There's enough ongoing debates with headphone burn-in here

 

[dw6928]

Just received my 701s recabled from Moonaudio. He recommended 100 hour minimum for the cables. Out of the box...remarkable improvement! Bigger bass, bigger soundstage and better clarity. This is some serious headphone now (it was awfully good before the cable upgrade however)

 

[Morph201]

I assume the cable upgrade voids AKGs warranty? If so, then what happens if you need drivers changed? Is it better to wait until the warranty has ended? Also, will AKG still work on a recabled modified phone??