[Clubkill]

Hi all-

Well, I have been scouring the boards and reading reviews, and I went ahead and ordered a pair of the Philips hp890's.

This is my first pair of "legitimate" headphones, so I am eagerly awaiting their arrival.

My question is about burning them in. Can anyone give me a brief summary of the best procedure for these phones? If my initial reaction is that they are treble-heavy, does that mean more bass in the burn-in? Glad for any opinions.

*I ban in advance any unnecessary argumentation-calm, rational discourse only* - There are plenty of good threads to argue on besides this one

Anyway, considering that my old ones were *crap* I am very excited to get the "plush pillows of pleasure" soon and try them out. And it is my birthday present to myself (21 today), so I am a happy guy.

Thanks in advance for all of you!

soon to be>>>>>>>>>

 

[dhwilkin]

There are no headphone-specific burn-in methods, though the amount of time needed will differ. Don't know how long the Phillips need. Just be sure to use materials that cover the entire frequency spectrum. For me, that means rotating between a few discs, played on repeat constantly. I also play at louder than normal volumes.

 

[Buddha]

Quote:

Originally posted by Clubkill *I ban in advance any unnecessary argumentation-calm, rational discourse only*

Lol, when you buy HP890s its go hard or go home Clubkill... but I'd guess that all the old adversarys are saving their best for a certain upcoming review....

I dont really think there is a magic formula for burn in...just play your favourite albums and note the improvement over the course of time. I found that they improved noticably right through to around the 200 hour mark.

Congratulations and Happy Birthday!

 

[joeyliao]

do a search for "burn in' here and on headwise.

you will get alot of ideas and opinions. some people claim that they dont believe in burn in, others will have a very specific and sophisticated formula for it. (play pink noise, slowly increase the volume, etc...)

you will get two ends of the spectrum... kinda like the love/hate debate over the hp890's (sorry just had to get that one in...

i just got a pair as well, i am just playing the normal music i listen to through the phones. sometimes i listen to them, sometimes they just sit on their stand as the music plays.

i am not to fussed about burn in as i figure they will get their workout over the course of their lifetime.

i have about 15 hours on the phones and like the sound already. sounds pretty balanced and pleasing to me, esp since i never really had "nice" phones before this..

 

[Clubkill]

thanks for the input.....

the pre-emptive notice I put in my post was a result of my reading the 62 or so replies to the dreaded "7 recommendations" about buying the hp890's

the fact is, nobody really seems to think that the sound is bad for the price, and the size does not bother me as my last were very big, and comfiness is definately a concern

so it seems like if i just listen to what I like (not too loud at first) I should be okay for breaking them in? Anything NOT to do?

thanks again!

 

[Mumrik]

Quote:

Originally posted by Buddha Lol, when you buy HP890s its go hard or go home Clubkill... but I'd guess that all the old adversarys are saving their best for a certain upcoming review....

You mean the Slaughterfest 2002?

Quote:

Originally posted by joeyliao i am not to fussed about burn in as i figure they will get their workout over the course of their lifetime. i have about 15 hours on the phones and like the sound already. sounds pretty balanced and pleasing to me, esp since i never really had "nice" phones before this..

I own the HP890 too, and I have the same thought about burn in as Joey does... I just listened to them with a wide variety of music (as I would normally) and they slowly but clearly improved...


I'm glad to hear you're enjoying them Joey

I badly need to make a propor Team Philips logo... or perhaps a Team HP890 logo, since that's the one causing all this controversy..

Quote:

Originally posted by Clubkill the pre-emptive notice I put in my post was a result of my reading the 62 or so replies to the dreaded "7 recommendations" about buying the hp890's the fact is, nobody really seems to think that the sound is bad for the price, and the size does not bother me as my last were very big, and comfiness is definately a concern

1) Yeah, that was a bad thread...
2) Tuberoller does find them to be very bad for the price...
3) You don't know big till you see and try the HP890. Let me correct that; they aren't big, they are huge.

Good luck with your purchase

 

[Clubkill]

In terms of size, I prefer Boris the Blades' opinion:

If they sound bad, at least they can be used to beat someone....

btw, the words "team philips" set off my 'possibly agrivating post' alarm Mumrik, careful now......

 

[dcg]

I remember a pic was posted a while ago with the 890s next to the senn 580s. Even after reading countless posts about how big they were, I didn't think they were THAT big. Anyway, hope you like the phones and happy 21st!

Dave

 

[Snufkin]

They don't say XXL on the XXL box for nothing.

When I got my Beyers I thought they were big (831/770 etc), people commented on how big they were.
When I got my HP890s people couldn't get past "whoa...."


My burn in procedure:
Grab cd collection, proceed to listen to each cd, continue until collection is exhausted, repeat and marvel at how different everything sounds the 2nd time through

 

[Tuberoller]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!It 's not too late to get your money back.Is it?

(I couldn't resist).Yeah, and you guys do need a logo(maybe I mean us guys) something really cool please.

On the serious side I did find these phones to VERY burn-in dependant.The sound changed substantially after break-in.I still didn't like em' much but they did sound much ,much better after I left them playing through the headphone jack on an NAD amp for four days.Take my swipes in stride,my main gripe is the price /performance ratio.Macdef's review should be very interesting if nothing else.

 

[Clubkill]

Yes, I am interested to hear this review. Is it coming soon?

Given the things I was looking for (nice sound, comfortable, easily-driveable, open, <$100) I think I will be happy with my choice. However, a full review would give me (a newbie) a bit of a listening refrence, so I can put a sound to everything that I am reading.

 

[lini]

Clubkill: Don't worry - the HP890 may be a bright headphone, but I wouldn't say it's overly bright or even sibilant. So I'd recommend you not to give a damn about any special burn-in procedure and just use it. Nevertheless, if you really want to apply some extra burn-in, I assume fm-tuner-noise would nicely do the job.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfed / lini


P.S.: Actually, I'm still thinking about getting one myself (as soon as I have to give back our test unit), but my problem is that the automatic headband is not tight enough, so the earpads hang rather heavily from my ears (though I haven't tried to open the headband and check, whether I could tighten it somehow, yet...).

 

[LTUCCI1924]

Clubkill
HI: Ok it has been a while now sience you got the 890s. How do you like them? Are you thinking of upgrading or happy with the 890s. I also have the 890s.