[VTAb182]

I ordered my first pair of 'real' headphones (M50s) and I've heard they are better after they burn in, but I don't know how to do this. Do I play actually songs or just white noise? How loud? For how long? Thanks for the help!

 

[isaios]

This is what i do. 
 
1. Open Headphones from packaging. 
2. hook up to sound source.
3. Put to a comfortable listening level. 
4. All headphones are different and thus burn time is different varying headphone to headphone, around 100 hours would be good.
5. Put them in a drawer and put a cushion over them to muffle noise. 
 
 

 

[dadab12]

There's no real science to how to burn in your phones. it can be either music or high and low frequency response, the thing is to reach all frequencies and to really stretch the drivers.
 
there's a site that can be helpful to you for that matter www.burninwave.com
 
Good Luck and enjoy them.

 

[joelpearce]

Whether burn-in is real or imagined, it's worth listening to them through the process.  I will revise the instructions above:
 
 

1. Open Headphones from packaging. 

2. hook up to sound source.

3. Put to a comfortable listening level. 

4. Set onto ears and enjoy.

 

[peskypesky]

a half an hour of Merzbow should do it.
 

 

[Landis]

You send them to Landis and he will take care of them for you... And coincidentally move to an undisclosed location before mailing them back. But don't worry, I vouch for him!
 
But seriously, put them on your and if they change, great, you get to experience their progression and they don't change, no worries!

 

[TMRaven]

There is no real science to it, just play sound that (preferably) covers all the sonic range, and at normal listening levels.  You can even do so by just listening to them through time-- nobody's making you wait to start listening to them after hours upon hours of burn-in.  My experience with the M50s was right out of the box they lacked bass and body, but literally only after 30 minutes, the bass appeared out of nowhere.  From then on the bass gets gradually tighter.  

 

[Roller]

Quote:

a half an hour of Merzbow should do it.
 
Two obnoxious youtube links

That's trash, and the worse seconds my headphones ever went through.

 

[LugBug1]

leave them playing overnight at a medium volume for a few days. 

 

[classakg]

Quote:

leave them playing overnight at a medium volume for a few days. 

Not necessary IMO. Just use them regularly till they reach the 100+ hours. 

 

[rednihil7]

Just listen to them. They are still fantastic pre-burn in plus you'll be able to hear them open up and become divine!

 

[VALIENTE]

Just listen to them. They are still fantastic pre-burn in plus you'll be able to hear them open up and become divine!

Yes, do this one. Listen to it on your head. Observe how the sound quality change from good, better, and best! You may find it more with revealing changes if you have a desktop amp to pair with.... a Fiio E9 desktop amp is a steal this time!

 

[Jcmbruce]

Jus picked up the E9 for $28 shipped on amazon.

 

[NinjaSquirt]

Just listen to music while you're burning it in, don't do the whole 50 hours straight of white noise stuff. Whether burn in is real, scientific, or not, leaving a headphone on for hundreds of hours at a time can't be healthy for its lifetime.

 

[terente0081]

While breaking in the headphones, don't worry if the sound gets actually worse at some point. It's not always going from good to better and then best. I don't own many headphones; Denon D5000, AKG K701, Sennheiser IE8 and Sony XB700 (want to buy XB1000 soon). IE8 is the only headphone that didn't change a bit with break-in. K701 night and day difference. My experience with breaking in headphones showed various results. D5000 went from good to better and best while Sony's XB700 went from good to better within the first few hours, then got worse with bland bass @ 20 hours break-in. Keep them playing, they will loosen up in time.
IE8, D5000 and K701 were used with Corda StageDAC -> Corda Analog amp.
XB700 used with Musical Fidelity V-DAC II -> MF V-CAN II I purchased the same time with the XB's. I'm actually breaking in the headphones and burning in the DAC, AMP & IC's.
 
I use all the files from http://www.burninwave.com/ for break-in, setting the volume as high as possible without distorting/clipping in any on the files I am about to play. 200 hours of break-in should be enough.
Use the headphones during this time, it's very important to also break-in the pads. Fit (comfort), isolation and SPL are affected by the way the headphones sit on your head.