[Robeats]

 
I have a few questions about headphone burn-in. 

 

- Does the quality of the soundcard/Mediaplayer affect the burn-in process and it's results?
- Which is better to use for Burning-in headphones: Analogue sound or Digital sound?
- Can I consider 100 hours of burn-in a safe duration for all headphones? or Should it be shorter for low quality headphones and longer for high quality ones?
-Is it possible for me to flatten the response of a headphone by just burning in?
- Lastly, can I determine how long should I burn-in a pair of headphones by just looking at it's technical specs? (Example: Sensitivity, Impedance, Frequancy response, driver size etc.)

 

 

Is there anyway for me to flatten the response of a pair of regular headphones?

 

[cmfhsu]

Quote:

 
I have a few questions about headphone burn-in. 

 

- Does the quality of the soundcard/Mediaplayer affect the burn-in process and it's results?

 

Not really, unless your sound card is so woefully underpowered that it clips your headphones, in which case you should use a different computer (very, very unlikely). I wouldn't worry about it. Set it at just a little bit higher than normal listening volume, and leave it be.


- Which is better to use for Burning-in headphones: Analogue sound or Digital sound?

 

...What?


- Can I consider 100 hours of burn-in a safe duration for all headphones? or Should it be shorter for low quality headphones and longer for high quality ones?

 

Burn it in until you feel satisfied it's burned in. Or you could not burn it in at all. It's really up to you. I wouldn't recommend burning it in for 100 hours straight, though. Burn it in overnight, perhaps, then let the headphones rest for a while.


-Is it possible for me to flatten the response of a headphone by just burning in?

 

It's not uncommon for the treble reproduction in a headphone to smooth out after some burning in, but I don't think it's possible to change the frequency response of a set of headphones by burning it in.


- Lastly, can I determine how long should I burn-in a pair of headphones by just looking at it's technical specs? (Example: Sensitivity, Impedance, Frequancy response, driver size etc.)

 

View 2 questions up.

 

 

Is there anyway for me to flatten the response of a pair of regular headphones?

 

You could EQ them with software, but it's very difficult to drastically change the way a headphone sounds just by burning it in. Burn in is, in itself, a very minute change in sound, so unless you somehow damage the headphones in the process of burning them in, it's not possible to flatten the response just by burning it in. What headphones are you burning in, and why are you so concerned about flattening out its frequency response?

 

 

P.S. Formatting your text pretty colors makes it difficult for me to distinguish my answers from your questions.

 

[Uncle Erik]

Don't worry about burn-in. Just listen.

 

[Kevin Brown]

I didn't use to believe in burn in, but now I most definitely do:
 
o AKG K240S (Mk II).  Sounded quite dark and bass boomy out of the box.  Not much treble.  After burn in, recommended by another Head Fi-er here, the bass tightened up, and the treble got "activated".
 
I would have ditched them if not for the suggestion to try to burn them in first.  3 overnights or about 15 - 20 hrs.
 
o Grado HF2's.  Very bloomy boomy bass right out of the box.  I thought there was something wrong with the very 1st CD I listened to with these.  I didn't do any specific burn in with these, but after a few days of just listening at work during the day, the bass tightened up a lot.  Not much difference in the mids or highs, just the lows.  Again, not long, maybe 15-20 hrs total. 
 
In both those cases, IMO, the freq response did flatten specifically due to burn in.  And it's not a case of my brain getting more used to the sound signature of each either.  I listen to so many headphones during any typical week, that there's no chance for me to get overly "comfortable" with any pair that I would misjudge changes or lack of changes in another pair.
 
For the Grados, for that very 1st CD I listened to, I had to crank down by 5 dB at 62 and 125 Hz to even make it listenable.  After I recognized that "burn in" occurred, I listened to that very 1st CD again.  -1 dB at 62 and 125 Hz.  That big a change.
 
The sad thing being, I have sold off headphones before, not realizing that burn in could be real.  So I only gave some of them 10 min or less.  Now I know better. 

 

[MomijiTMO]

Quote:

Don't worry about burn-in. Just listen.

This.
 
If they sound amazing from the get go, hooray. 

 

[Connnorrr]

I think burn in works but I don't think it is the only factor, you have to get accustomed to each sound signature from your new headphones. I went from ATH-A700 that I have had for over a year now to HD595's. I didn't like the sound at first, but after some time listening to let them not only burn in, but to get into how they convey different music, I appreciate and enjoy them MUCH more than I did right from the box.
 
Also got some SR80i's and they seemed to benefit from burn-in more than the Senn's in my personal opinion.
 
 
I'd say let yourself listen to them, get comfortable with how they sound and while you do that, they will be "burned in" at the same time.

 

[Robeats]

Ok thanks man, really Appreciate it. 
 my answer to your question is:
I bought 5 Generic "Ok" sounding headphones. (made in korea & china)
Then I bought 3 generic Bad sounding headphones.
And 3 skullcandys (Ink'd, titan and holua). 

I was planning to test the theory of "burn-in" in each of these headphones. I just wanted to know the potential of burn-in in transforming Ok, bad and good headphones into decent travel studio reference headphones. You see I'm into home recording and so far, mixing and mastering with my powered speakers (or studio monitors) are always better than doing it with reference headphones. Whenever I mix while traveling, When I get home, I always have to re-mix and re-master with my studio monitors even when I'm using AKG K 271, Senheiser HD203, Sony MDR-V600 and my trusty Behringer HPX2000 DJ. I asked in some Home studio forums, all of them seem to suggest just buying better or best headphones. But, me I'm just experimenting because Imagine what a break through that would be if burning-in can actually make reference headphones. Well I really don't know that much about headphones, but I was just curious. Anyway, Thanks. 

 

[LizardKing1]

Wait, so Skullcandy's are your "good" headphone choice? Get some Shure, or even some Senns ^^ and to make an advance in your results: it can. Most times burn-in just makes good headphones sound great, in a really small way. It's a tiny difference which can be picked up if you know the original signature well and you have some audiophile trained ears (I guess you do, if you're into recording). So, chances are you'll obtain some decent headphones out of bad headphones, but for reference I think you really need to get the pricy brands.

 

[xtala]

Don't know exactly how reliable this series of posts is, but it seems to be pretty good and it might help you out:
http://www.ratsound.com/cblog/categories/27-The-Mighty-Headphone-Quest//P2.html (first post at the bottom of the page).
 
"There are two differing approaches to loudspeaker and headphone design. The home hi-fi approach where the goal is to gloss the musical flaws and present the listener with a pleasing and enjoyable sound. The other is the studio monitor approach where the goal is to expose all the flaws in a harsh and accurate light so they can be addressed. I am looking for a pair of cans that just sounds like the damn instrument I am trying to listen to." (from the first post)
 
 

 

[cmfhsu]

Quote:

Ok thanks man, really Appreciate it. 
 my answer to your question is:
I bought 5 Generic "Ok" sounding headphones. (made in korea & china)
Then I bought 3 generic Bad sounding headphones.
And 3 skullcandys (Ink'd, titan and holua). 

I was planning to test the theory of "burn-in" in each of these headphones. I just wanted to know the potential of burn-in in transforming Ok, bad and good headphones into decent travel studio reference headphones. You see I'm into home recording and so far, mixing and mastering with my powered speakers (or studio monitors) are always better than doing it with reference headphones. Whenever I mix while traveling, When I get home, I always have to re-mix and re-master with my studio monitors even when I'm using AKG K 271, Senheiser HD203, Sony MDR-V600 and my trusty Behringer HPX2000 DJ. I asked in some Home studio forums, all of them seem to suggest just buying better or best headphones. But, me I'm just experimenting because Imagine what a break through that would be if burning-in can actually make reference headphones. Well I really don't know that much about headphones, but I was just curious. Anyway, Thanks. 

Yeah... I wouldn't use those headphones to mix or master anything, because you're just gonna get home and have to do even more editing. You can polish poo all you want, but you're still gonna end up with a pile of sh%!
 
If you want a pretty good travel setup, look into an apogee duet and some AKG k701/k702's. The apogee is a mac-only product, though, so if you're  PC user, you're outta luck. 

 

[RexAeterna]

don't worry about that stuff. just listen to your music and enjoy. your ears do most of the tuning. 

 

[Kevin Brown]

Quote:

don't worry about that stuff. just listen to your music and enjoy. your ears do most of the tuning. 

From personal experience, this isn't always true.

 

[N0sferatu]

you're over thinking it...
 
Just play them they'll break in with time...some quicker than others.  Most take 24-96 hours.  My D7000s sounded the way I heard on the model I borrowed after about 10 hours use.  Just plug them into a source, play some music, and come back in a day.  Done.
 
Don't over think just enjoy!

 

[Riku540]

While I do believe burn in is real; I also believe changes in sound (if any) are marginal.
 
If you don't like a set of headphones out of the box, chances are you aren't going to like them 500 hours later either.
 
Just don't expect miracles.

 

[bcasey25raptor]

just do what i did. i sat back and listened to my music until they broke in. i didnt do the white noise method because i thought it was pointless. i would rather just listen to my music.