[wolfetan44]

I think it does. For some reason my UETF10s were really weird. my right earbud played at a really low volume and my left one played at a very high volume. After maybe a month the volumes stabled out and they sounded fantastic. Not sure that this is burn-in. But after some time it was better.

 

[telecaster]

You will burn your ears trying to figure out! In tube amp it's actually a tube that is burning so.. In headphone, if you run a voltage during the longest period of time the voice coil will eventually get warm and may burn!!!

No really the voicecoil in tweeters get pretty hot and manufacturers resort to fluid cooling no joke! So that may be said that if you "burn in" your headphone the difference of mechanical structure because of heat might change the characterics of the voicecoil and thus the headphone sound. Still, any mechanical device will show some kind of variation, but I doubt you have oscilloscopes inside your brain.
When you are hungry you are more sensitive to bass frequencies. When you are overweight or have a high blood pressure you're earing is different from that of a skinny person with a low bood pressure. And also if you just got a parking ticket you might want to bash how edgy your Grados are or how good your new 1000$ pair of can is better than the old ones! That is psychoacoustics, is inherently human!
 

 

[iamthem]

 
Quote:

Well, the experiment to check would be simple.
 
Frequency response curve before and after burn-in.
 
Shure has stated that they couldn't find that effect for their own headphones and iems.
 
What I suspect is responsible for the improvement in sound for new headphones is actually a form of the placebo effect. I don't mean to say that there is no change in sound quality. For the owners of the headphones, I believe that the perceived sound quality did improve, but most likely because they just got used to the characteristics of their headphones, rather than the actual headphones getting physically better.

Then how could Tyll at innerfidelity tell with a high rate of accuracy which pair of q701's were burnt in? It's true that it can be a placebo effect for some headphones, but burn in DOES exist. Frequency response doesn't tell you about all the properties of the headphone, e.g. detail, speed, etc, only its sound signature (and even that doesn't always hold true sometimes).
 
@wolfetan44 I don't think balanced armature headphones burn in. I've owned TF10's and A151's and neither of them experienced significant burn in.

 

[uchikoma]

I did notice changes in my recent purchase starting at first listen all the way till now. Prior to this, I didn't really believe in burn-in (and my last set of headphones and IEMs haven't made any notable changes in sound either). In any case though, it'd be pretty hard to conclusively prove the case for either. 
 
Even an experiment involving N people listening to X headphones (that they've never listened to before) in sequence for M hours wouldn't tell you much as perhaps the placebo effect differs between people.

 

[RayleighSilvers]

Here's my constructive arguement on the mater.......
 
No

 

[telecaster]

Like loudspeaker, headphone do need some burn in. Read and learn.
It won't make your scratchy headphone world class, but the bass will loosen up a little, providing more ample bass, and the trebles will get less sibilant.
BUT THAT IS ONLY MINUTE CHANGES.

 

[mindbomb]

Quote:

 
Then how could Tyll at innerfidelity tell with a high rate of accuracy which pair of q701's were burnt in? It's true that it can be a placebo effect for some headphones, but burn in DOES exist. Frequency response doesn't tell you about all the properties of the headphone, e.g. detail, speed, etc, only its sound signature (and even that doesn't always hold true sometimes).

Probably by chance.
In the follow up to the break in test, it was shown that there were no objective improvements from burn in.
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/break-part-deux

 

[jeckyll]

I think this is really a 2 part question:
 
1) Do you hear the music played by your headphones differently after they've been used for a while - A: yes
2) Is that due to the headphone?  A: not sure. 
 
I've heard changes in the first few minutes with headphones, i.e. straight out of the box.  But after an hour or so, I don't know if those changes come from my hearing adapting or from the driver actually changing.
 
In the end though, the thing that truly matters is does the listener believe the sound has changed.  For many people the answer is yes.  The why is perhaps not so important.

 

[LizardKing1]

I think it's a 2 part question as well, but from the headphone's angle and not the listener's:
Does your headphone's driver change? Yes
Is this change audibly perceptible? Not sure

 

[eDiesel]

I recently bought a pair of v-moda crossfades and on first impression the mids where almost non existent. They sounded very very strange. I ran music through them for about 24 hours at 80% volume.  After that they Sound AMAZING. Almost like listening to a live concert. I cant speak for other headphone but i know v-modas definitely need burn ins.

 

[jeckyll]

I don't think our 2 sets of questions are at odds  
 
They could very easily form a 4 question set.
 
Quote:

I think it's a 2 part question as well, but from the headphone's angle and not the listener's:
Does your headphone's driver change? Yes
Is this change audibly perceptible? Not sure