[halcyon]

Nah, it is in fact people who hear headphones to be different like "night and day" after 200hours of break-in that are deaf.

A broad-band hearing damage in critical mid-frequencies causes people to be inaccurate in their day-to-day assessment of sound quality. When listeners have broad range hearing loss, they are more likely to say it's great on day 1, but crap on day 2.

People with normal healthy hearing are much more accurate statistically over a period of several listening impressions.

This is a scientific fact, shown by perceptual studies (look up Sean Olive's studies on listener accuracy and training).

I'm sorry I had to be the bringer of bad news

regards,
halcyon

PS Even though this post is in jest, the science bit is not. I believe in break-in as well, but only as a minor effect. Even after having said this, I would not dare to blame others to be neanderthal or hearing damaged when they claim night and day differences due to break-in. I just have a different experience myself (and know some the science on the issue), but that doesn't mean I can't respect other opinions even when I don't agree with them

 

[Drag0n]

Really,why argue about break-in period? The people that believe it will break in their stuff anyway,,and the ones that dont believe it will use their equipment the way it is,and eventually,like it or not,the stuff will break in on its own someday anyway. So really,it doesnt matter.
People dont seem to be as worried about tube equipment that sounds different almost every time you listen to it,and has to warm up every time you use it.
My friend has a big old tube stereo reciever,and this sucker had bloom and fullness,and sounded great. But he used it for so many years and never even realized the tubes we wearing out because his ears got used to the slow gradual change over the many years he owned and loved that reciever.
One day someone mentioned he should change his tubes,after changing his guitar amp tubes. Ok,so he did....and the difference was night and day. Of course i dont know if the brand of tubes he used was part of it either,hes not a tube roller or anything..but it kinda shows how you might not even notice a difference over time in the change of your equipment.
I do believe that speaker cones and headphones need a break in to physically loosen them up though. And because of capacitors and the like,amps need a break in too. My Grado SR80 sounded like tinny crap when i first got them,and my friend who isnt an audiophile type by any means ,and only listens to hardcore metal,laughed at me when he first heard these. I almost returned them. Also that was with bowl pads that come with them. Now that theyre burnt in,they sound great. They physically loosened up and the diaphrams can move further and more easily with less resistance so it can reproduce the bass notes easier. If you play guitar and strum a string and then lightly touch it with your finger and let-go quickly,you have now restricted the string to vibrate a smaller distance,and the note sounds a bit higher. Same with a diaphram thats new and tight and cant move the distance and speed it needs to,until it loosens up.
Whew,ok..im done!

(I dont have RS1's,but would like to....but its the only Grado smiley choice there...lol).

 

[cheechoz]

Like it, or not!! I almost sold an expensive pair of cans, because I felt the drivers were out of balance with each other, as compared to a set with much more time on it. Turned out to be a very congested soundstage, that eventually broadened. Some people don't have the patience to wait for a particular set of cans to break-in, but should definitely give them the time they need. I found out the benefits, because of patience, and it paid off!

 

[bjackson]

About the bitrates. I know I can tell the difference. Under ABX with Foobar, running from my Audiophile 2496 > Pimeta > HD650s, with 20 trials, I got flac vs 128abr (encoded in Lame by hand), correct 19 times.

The difference wasn't night and day at first but once I really started listening to the bass line, I could tell the difference.

The track was Mel Torme - Sleigh Ride on Telarc.