[mtd]

Do grados need burn in at all? I'v had a bunch of sets but can't decide.

My recently aqquired sr80s are COMPLETELY unlistenable. I don't hear music when I listen to them. I hear a loud squeeling noise. The bowls give the squeeling noise a sparkle .. horrah!

These are def going back tomorrow.

Makes me respect my ksc75 100 times more .. and to a lesser extent hd580.

*spits on john grados picture*

 

[mrarroyo]

Yes they do, depending on the model as little as 100 hours to as many as 300 hours. Good luck.

 

[lmilhan]

There seems to be three camps with regard to burn in.

Believers.
Non-Believers.
Indifferent.

I am firmly in the 'believer' camp. Of all the new headphones I have ever owned (quite a bit) the most dramatic and obvious effect of burn in (to my ears) occur with Grado headphones.

If there is ever a properly executed scientific experiment run (that will yield statistically significant results) to prove or disprove headphone burn in, I would like to be one of the subjects used in the Grado testing.

With that said, IMO you shouldn't pass any critical judgement until you have burned them in for a couple hundred hours.

 

[user18]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lmilhan /img/forum/go_quote.gif There seems to be three camps with regard to burn in. Believers. Non-Believers. Indifferent.

I think instead, it should be

a. Headphones that need burn-in
b. Burn-in makes no difference

To give an example, A900 didn't sound much different right out of the box versus after 300 hours. Ultrasone 750 sounded noticeably different after burn-in. Not the OMG!!! different that some people write about, but you could tell the difference. The highs were ear-piercingly harsh when they were new.

I think some of the burn-in effect is actually a placebo effect. When you listen to a new set of headphones, you don't know whether you like the sound or not. You're ears adjust after a while, and all of a sudden, you realize you like the sound. Then it's, "OMG!!! Burn-in is INCREDIBLE!"

 

[ken36]

Do it anyway.

 

[BrookR1]

If they don't grab your whoo ha ha right away, then sell them, buy a pair of Bose, and forever flame Grado.

 

[jinp6301]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do grados need burn in at all? I'v had a bunch of sets but can't decide. My recently aqquired sr80s are COMPLETELY unlistenable. I don't hear music when I listen to them. I hear a loud squeeling noise. The bowls give the squeeling noise a sparkle .. horrah! These are def going back tomorrow. Makes me respect my ksc75 100 times more .. and to a lesser extent hd580. *spits on john grados picture*

I understand that the grados are really bad to you, but is that any reason to totally disrespect someone by spitting on their picture?

and the burn in issue. For my 225s, the bass got slightly heavier after about 100 hours.

 

[Paragon]

Are you sure the issue was the cans? Perhaps it was the source. I doubt a bad can would create a squeal (usually you get no sound or bad sound).

Usually a squeal comes from the amp or source

 

[rodbac]

"Burn in" has a number of things working against it:

(1) Nobody has ever done a test that validly confirms it. Hell, to my knowledge, I don't think anyone around here has ever even claimed to be able to tell the difference between a new pair and a "burned in" pair blindly, so I haven't even seen a reason to investigate further (with a more stringent test).

(2) Small transducers move *extremely* small distances compared to speaker drivers, so it's highly unlikely that the relatively accepted break-in that occurs with some speakers (although it's still debatable) due to the materials "loosening" with movement happens similarly with headphones.

(3) Nobody ever reports the sound degrading over the first few hundred hours. If the sound changes significantly over x00 hours of use, wouldn't you expect at least a few people to prefer the sound of the 'new' transducer?

(4) It's a well-known phenomenon that we prefer the sound more the more familiar we are with it, so what reason is there to think that's not the case here?

(5) I had two pairs of SR-80s- one was used for a month or so while the other sat unused at a friend's house. I got his back and thought they sounded quite different. Read that "burn in" might be bunk, so I had my wife swap them randomly for me. I couldn't tell the difference blindly. People are universally amazed at how many things 'go away' when you listen blindly. Our brains are powerful.

Working for it are:

(1) Anecdote.

(2) It's at least theoretically possible.

So ignoring #5 of the things that go against it (that's just anecdote, too), the picture tells a story to many of us.

If you feel differently, you've got a lot of company around here.

 

[BigJohn]

Since the headphone drivers are mechanical devices they could very well benefit from burning them in.

After burning them in you are also more accustomed to they’re sound, which could make a difference.

If your headphone squeals or something there’s something seriously wrong with it, or with something else in your set…

And you better not spit on nobody’s picture if you don’t want to get in trouble sooner or later