[johnwmclean]

Just what the world needs another thread about burn in...

My brand new HD650 replacements came yesterday, had a listen with stock cable and thought ok these are going to need quite a few weeks playing to open up.

I remember from my last pair they took a while to start sounding nice and musical. Changing to a well burnt in silver dragon cable, the phones sound really good like the well run in pair I remember.

I can’t attribute the significance in quality to the silver dragon cable purely. I can only put this down to the stock cable needing to burnt in, then switching to a superior cable that was well run in.

Therefore I would conclude that the stock cable is the culprit in headphone burn in, at least with my experience with the HD650’s.

Has anyone had similar experiences?

 

[kuzzz]

i think its placebo, electricity does'nt change the molecular structure of the cable.
Only temperature (and some other stuff) affects the material not age.
so the sound should be same from day 1 to the last

 

[Orcin]

In my humble opinion, you can burn in those headphones and that stock cable until hell freezes over, and it will still never sound as good as it will with an upgraded cable. Just my opinion... nothing to see here... move along please.

 

[myinitialsaredac]

Kuzz,
electricity does create a fair amount of heat when moving through areas of resistance. Take into account your cpu or gpu. And if there is moving pieces (i.e. dynamic phones) there could well be diaphragm breakin. Actually theres an article out there that showed measurable differences in speakers after break-in. I just dont remember exactly where it is.

Dave

 

[johnwmclean]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orcin /img/forum/go_quote.gif In my humble opinion, you can burn in those headphones and that stock cable until hell freezes over, and it will still never sound as good as it will with an upgraded cable. Just my opinion... nothing to see here... move along please.

That’s understood, I’m just after a better understanding from what I’ve experienced. I believe the actual phone doesn’t need to burn in, the cable does.

 

[myinitialsaredac]

If I may, dynamic headphones need break in as almost anything else with moving parts. The cable could have the potential to break in, but IMO that is less likely to be audible. If you change your cables you are likely hearing a difference due to better cable making (capacitance, impedance, high purity wire, better dielectrics whatever it may be).

Dave

 

[kuzzz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by myinitialsaredac /img/forum/go_quote.gif .. The cable could have the potential to break in, but IMO that is less likely to be audible. If you change your cables you are likely hearing a difference due to better cable making (capacitance, impedance, high purity wire, better dielectrics whatever it may be). Dave

thats what i tried to say, cables do not break in

 

[bce22]

headphone breakin makes sense, cable breakin really doesn't. There is a ton of research out there about both situations not to mention a venerable plethora of posts about changes in headphones after burnin.

 

[kuzzz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bce22 /img/forum/go_quote.gif headphone breakin makes sense, cable breakin really doesn't. There is a ton of research out there about both situations not to mention a venerable plethora of posts about changes in headphones after burnin.

did you collect all that stuff in your sig in 2 months

 

[mbd2884]

Hehe, breaking in, the only thing I enjoy about is reading the technical theoretical opinions about it. Interesting read, never found any of it to be true. I personally just found my ears become more comfortable with the sound of the headphones and enjoy the sound a lot more.

 

[bce22]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kuzzz /img/forum/go_quote.gif did you collect all that stuff in your sig in 2 months

Yes, always been an audiophile however I needed to forgo traditional speaker setup due to life changes. Now I have so much more flexibility with headphones. And yes I am absolutely broke thanks to head-fi and the FS forum.

Oh and my dig doesn't include the 325i's I gave to a friend along with the headsix amp and an iPod LOD. Broke I tell you!!!

 

[tintin47]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orcin /img/forum/go_quote.gif In my humble opinion, you can burn in those headphones and that stock cable until hell freezes over, and it will still never sound as good as it will with an upgraded cable. Just my opinion... nothing to see here... move along please.

That may be, but that doesn't mean that the cable can be burned in, which is the point of this thread. Of course upgraded cables will sound better. They have less resistance and conduct electricity better. This is especially important for low amperages such as headphone operation.

 

[Orcin]

I thought the OP was saying that the stock cable needed burn-in to sound as good as an upgraded cable. I obviously mis-read it.

 

[monsieurguzel]

This is an interesting discussion since when you look at the Moon Audio website, there is mention that the cables do sound better with burn it. It cites 25hrs for the Blue Dragon and 100hrs for the Silver Dragon...