[scottiebabie]

i'v had the pleasure of owning my very own W5K for 3weeks now. believe it or not, im still trying to discover its "true" sound signature. b4 i got it, a bud of mine has been "burning" it with a burn-in software for about 2weeks.

his impressions of the cans were that its "..not bassy..very quick..", IOW thin and treble oriented. the nite i got it, i 2made similiar comments. although the highs were exquisite, the bass were highly lacking atleast compared to my well worn HD600+mogami. thin sounding was what i wrote down.

the next afternoon, i tried it again and i almost fell out the chair. I GOT BASS! and not just bass but quality bass! so...3 weeks later, the W5k sound is still changing on me in the sense that the sound has been opening up and improving since.

so..2cut it short, YES! headfon burn-in do exist atleast for some headfons. the difference is 2dramatic for me to deny its existence. THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE!

ps:but ofcoz, it could be just a case of pyschoaccoustics (or just pyscho..

). just kidding folks, just kidding

 

[El Condor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zenja Things change their molecular structure or composition all the time, and it doesn't have to be just moving parts. Look at heat treatments for example, or magnetization of metals. Don't you think a flow of electrons could affect the wires on an atomic scale?

I don't know why people doubt this. I'm guessing because many are not aware of what goes on at the micro level. It's not a theory, its a real phenomenon. Because we don't have any analytical mean to evaluate these transformations and to gauge their impact in our theories doesn't mean those transformations don't occur.

Any and every physical system changes over time. A system can have a tendency to settle in a certain state, but inevitably, throughout its entire life, and until its death if it applies, it will change. Weather this change can be perceived or not at a macro level by a human being is another story (this is where the uncertainty would lies, not in the fact that headphones actually burn-in or not).

I for one don't have trouble imagining that it would be perceptible at a human level through your favorite pair of headphones. There are one too many variables to consider for a excruciatingly convincing analysis to take place. The most you can do is enjoy the changes or to not enjoy them, but in the end, you can know know that underlying changes in the physical system do indeed occur.

Enjoy the changes!!

 

[El Condor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lmilhan It would really be cool if a headphone manufacturer would fund a scientific experiment to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that burn-in does or does not exist. Like if Grado labs did this, and had 1,000 pairs of RS-1s and an undisclosed number of those 1,000 had 200 hours of burn-in, and the remainder had zero burn-in. The same musical track would be used throughout the test, and the equipment (amp, cd player, volume levels, etc) would be identical throughout the entire test. I would love to volunteer for that experiment. I would be willing to put my money where my mouth is and bet you $1,000 of my own money that I would pick out the ones that were burned in with nearly 100% accuracy. But alas, that is just a dream. I am pretty certain none of the headphone manufacturers would be interested in funding such a test. Ah well, would be interesting to see the outcome of such an experiment. Maybe if I hit the lottery one day I will conduct such an experiment to end the debate once and for all.

Don't waste your money if you win the loto, such a test is not feasable. There are simply too many variables that you can never have control over to be able to conduct an accurate test. There is not way (at least now and maybe never) to gauge the importance of physical changes occuring at the micro level and what their impact is at the macro level. Nor would you be able to quantitatively gauge how much the brain fills in what its hearing and what it's not hearing. To eliminate the human factor, you would have to conduct the test with electronic which would of course be fraught with the same kind of incessant physical changes at the micro level than the system you would try to evaluate (headphones).

To some extent, the physical system you would use to "hear" would "hear" things slightly differently at every moment you would care to look at in time. But of course, we can't measure that either

 

[El Condor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oicdn I knew it was an analogy...just giving the guy a hard time. As engine break-in, is useless.

Useless to you

. It doesn't change the fact that the engine has a break in period and that this period has an effect on the life of the engine.

 

[El Condor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinali Very intersting. I suppose I'm kind of pro-breakin, but I recall one user here who reported extensively on how he felt his K1000s sounded notably better when they were actually physically warm. I've not had that experience with any of my headphones, but there are so many products and musical tastes out there, it's difficult to draw concrete conclusions.

Physical properties of semi conductors change with temperature. Same for wires regarding conductivity. Same for any material in existence that you care to name. No magic here

.

 

[oicdn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by El Condor Useless to you . It doesn't change the fact that the engine has a break in period and that this period has an effect on the life of the engine.

Nope. You want a longer engine life? You drive it like you stole it, and run it hard, with deceleration too. Rings need to seat, and the only way to seat rings is under heavy load. Otherwise, you get the reverse effect, shorter engine life, worse gas mileage, and exhaust gas blow-by.

Manufacturer recommended break-ins are to cover thier ass legally, as well as avoid the possible assembley manufacturer defect. If you run it hard, and it breaks, it was going to break later down the road. Better now, while it's on thier dime.....

But back on topic

 

[El Condor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oicdn Nope. You want a longer engine life? You drive it like you stole it, and run it hard, with deceleration too. Rings need to seat, and the only way to seat rings is under heavy load. Otherwise, you get the reverse effect, shorter engine life, worse gas mileage, and exhaust gas blow-by. Manufacturer recommended break-ins are to cover thier ass legally, as well as avoid the possible assembley manufacturer defect. If you run it hard, and it breaks, it was going to break later down the road. Better now, while it's on thier dime..... But back on topic

Yep, thats how I broke in my cruiser

. I even changed the oil at 20 miles + oild filter and oil at 200 miles to clear out the metal shavings out of the engine sooner than the dealership would like you to do (it's not in their best interrest for you to take them out because then your engine is in better shape

).

Hehe, but indeed, back on topic.

 

[Takelur]

I ended up in this tread, because i wanted to see if any one else experienced the same change in sound from the DT880's after a few hours. I had heard about about burn-in, but had no hopes of my DT880 to become listenable. There was no bass, and WAY to much treble! It was so bad, it made me jump, even at low volumes! I had allready requested return of these to the store, but hadn't got a reply after a few days. I decided to take them out again, and yesterday i let them play without me listening for a few hours. When i put them on, i discovered that there was lots of bass, and the treble was much better (same album and source). The 'phone was much more balanced. It was indeed startling! Guess I'm not returning them after all

The notion that this is just my brain EQ'ing, is just silly, sorry. I don't believe my hearing, or the way i perceive sound, will change much over a few hours, just as i don't believe my vision will change either. This was night and day; Not subtle at all. I bought an Alesis Micron (synth), a while back. Really wanted to like this thing! Everyone said it was great. Well, it sucked! Couldn't get used to the sound, so even if i wanted to like it, i couldn't. I've played in bands for years, and the treble from cymbals and snares are always too much for my ears, before they start compressing/fatiguing. This means that my ears/perceiving goes back to normal after a short period. That your preference in sound may change, is possible to some extent probably, but it is at least not just preference we're talking about here, with these phones, but rather pain threshold, and the ability to hear bass.

I do believe the change in my DT880's could have been measured easily. The frequency response must have changed. They went from unusable to very nice phones, and my brain isn't capable of that kind of adjustment. Gwen Stefani's ess's were so ear piercing that i just couldn't listen to it. Maybe my brain grew a de-esser?

Beyer should have a big sticker on the box, saying that you have to break them in! If it's all in our heads, then it is at least happening collectively (I think this notion i crazy though).