[hifikid245]

(long story,,,sorry)
So I have a lower end hd449 from Senn, I have it for over two years now. After months of owning it the cable broke so I haven't use it for a month. I was eager to use again it so I got the nerve to open it up and changed the cable with the extension cable it came with. I made it work and used it for a month, the sound/everything was the same as like what it was. Then the idea of burning in came to my mind again, I wasn't really expecting any changes in sound quality or whatever when burning in a headphone specially when you used it in a long time. So I did 3 nights and 2 days of burning in, first night was mild, I played pink noise in comfortable volume in 8/10 hours(nothing happens). Then after it finishes the track I repeated the track again but with another test track at the same time with higher volume, I did the same thing over and over(adding different tracks, playing it at the same time and turning up the volume over the time) . I didn't tried it on yet. Then the 3 nights 2 days burn in test was over. I let it rest for a day then I plugged it in my phone then played the same lossy tracks I have. I was amazed how it sounded different, the soundstage is the huge improvement. Mids and highs also dramatically changed(mostly the highs), I can also feel the strumming of the guitarist which I have never experienced before. Then I played my favorite bassy track "crazy" by Will Sparks, I never heard the same bass impact I had with this headphones again which is pretty disappointing. It became harder to drive as well( only with mobile phones), 80% volume was the considered highest , but then after burning it in, it needs more volume to bring out its full potential,.

Is it normal to happen?

 

[Sefelt103]

You have described many changes to the sound of your headphones. I am a believer in burn in for new headphones although I have never heard of cable burn in. Perhaps in the process of replacing the cable you have damaged some part of your headphone or mispaced components. Cables can affect audio quality but these are usually subtle and not the drastic effects you describe here.

 

[hifikid245]

Well I don't think it is caused by damaged cable because like I said I used it a month after I replaced the cable and everything was working the same until I tried "burning" it in just to clear my mind whether its hoax or not, so I did. 
Update: I tried extensive listening again,I found out that the source(phone) is the problem or burning in made the bass sound clearer and flatter.
I connected it on my laptop(its the only powerful source I have and my headphone is just 32 ohm(?).) I noticed the changes were larger, the bass become flatter-clearer, soundstage and openness are the biggest changes, clarity also changed- I can now identify if the track I'm listening was mastered/recorded well. My headphone also makes lossy files sound better specially those well recorded/mastered tracks. Thanks to the "burn in" idea, my headphone never sounded better if its not because of it- I never knew lower end Sennheisers also sound good, mine sounds like beats before.

 

[serman005]

So, let me be sure I understand you--you're happy with how the cans sound now? And you think the problem was the source--the phone? Just trying to be sure I follow you.

 

[wafflezz]

Ha! dude. You can't burn in a headphone when it's already been used for a couple months. That's ridiculous.
Your headphones were already burned in. 
Either your headphones are malfunctioning or the change is completely psychological.
 
EDIT-or like the others said, it's the source.
Actually...now that I think about it, sennheiser's stock cables are pretty crappy. Maybe recabling it had a tiny effect?
Doubtful, but possible?

 

[hifikid245]

So, let me be sure I understand you--you're happy with how the cans sound now? And you think the problem was the source--the phone? Just trying to be sure I follow you.

Yup I'm a happy man now. I was actually about to replace these cans with Beyer t1 so I did bit of torture test, I'm going to throw these away anyway. But yeah thanks to it, I think l might still use it and have a bit of time on saving more money for gears.

 

[hifikid245]

Ha! dude. You can't burn in a headphone when it's already been used for a couple months. That's ridiculous.
Your headphones were already burned in. 
Either your headphones are malfunctioning or the change is completely psychological.

EDIT-or like the others said, it's the source.
Actually...now that I think about it, sennheiser's stock cables are pretty crappy. Maybe recabling it had a tiny effect?
Doubtful, but possible?

Definitely not psychological dude, as I said this is my only pair and I used it for over two years so I already know everything about it.
There's a possibility that the cabling changed how it behaves, I'm not a pro(just hobbyist) electrician but when I opened it up, man the circuitry is a mess and the circuit board is a joke. I did a bit of research on high end headphones' diagram and found that I can resolder it out of the circuit board and there's nothing special on the board either so I did the resoldering. And yeah, just to clear up my mind I did burn in test even though its unnecessary.

 

[Danny86]

I belive it's normal, it happened to me as well on the HE-400. I am a bass fan but at the same time do not enjoy recessed mids so I actually was quite happy of the transition.
 
Bass is still great btw, especially for the price paid.

 

[wafflezz]

Definitely not psychological dude, as I said this is my only pair and I used it for over two years so I already know everything about it.
There's a possibility that the cabling changed how it behaves, I'm not a pro(just hobbyist) electrician but when I opened it up, man the circuitry is a mess and the circuit board is a joke. I did a bit of research on high end headphones' diagram and found that I can resolder it out of the circuit board and there's nothing special on the board either so I did the resoldering. And yeah, just to clear up my mind I did burn in test even though its unnecessary.

>so I did the resoldering
Yup...that'll do it
That's definitely what changed your sound signature. Like you said there's no other physical changes to the headphone itself other than the cabling. Lol soldering the circuit board of a headphone to match a high end diagram will definitely give a different sound. Why didn't you mention that at the start? It's kinda significant information.

 

[hifikid245]

>so I did the resoldering
Yup...that'll do it
That's definitely what changed your sound signature. Like you said there's no other physical changes to the headphone itself other than the cabling. Lol soldering the circuit board of a headphone to match a high end diagram will definitely give a different sound. Why didn't you mention that at the start? It's kinda significant information.

my apologies,lol. I dont really have much knowledge in this type of conversations yet-(headphone forums).