[isquirrel]

Just put my order for two of the Rooms Audio Line from thomann.de headphone stands for my LCD-X's and LCD-3F's

 

[Somphon]

  Just put my order for two of the Rooms Audio Line from thomann.de headphone stands for my LCD-X's and LCD-3F's
 

 
Rooms Audio L is my first choice but no one is selling it in Thailand so I had to settle for Woo's.

 

[isquirrel]

   
Rooms Audio L is my first choice but no one is selling it in Thailand so I had to settle for Woo's.

That's a pity. I couldn't find anyone local so I ordered them directly out of Europe. Expensive but only have to buy them once, well that is until more headphones inevitably join the gang.......

 

[Aural1]

How many hours do you have on the 3F's ? 

Just a few hours, 5 max. Is it supposed to have a dramatic change?

 

[Somphon]

Just a few hours, 5 max. Is it supposed to have a dramatic change?

 
You will need at least 200 hours, then you will not be able to take it off.
Use quality burn-in source.

 

[bonesnv]

   
You will need at least 200 hours, then you will not be able to take it off.
Use quality burn-in source.

 
 
How did you come up with 200 hours?  Is this like one of those "Works 60% of the time, every time..." type things?

 

[Somphon]

   
 
How did you come up with 200 hours?  Is this like one of those "Works 60% of the time, every time..." type things?

 
 
 
anyway, I didn't 'come up' with the numbers. I kept a log of my burn-in. I would say 90% accurate as some times I forgot to write exact time, but stopped after the sound become acceptable to my ears which was just above 200 hours. I notice differences starting at 100 hours onward and the top-end harshness is gone after 200 hours and the mids is still improving. I change from stock cables to Nordost Heimdall 2 after about 10 hours, which significantly improve the sounds to be more musical, smoother mids and trebles than stock at that point.

 

[Aural1]

You will need at least 200 hours, then you will not be able to take it off.
Use quality burn-in source.

Do you have the 3f & mojo? If so, was your initial impression with that amp similar to mine?

Btw, I was the one with the 5 hour impression, not bonesnv.
.

 

[Somphon]

Do you have the 3f & mojo? If so, was your initial impression with that amp similar to mine?

 
no I do not, but I auditioned it at my local dealer with my own LCD-3f, this is a LCD-3 thread after all. I find it to be quite a good match but not able to replaced my Hugo.
The fazor version, unburned in, treble will be harsh which gives the impression of being bright. The first 50 hours I had trouble listening to the HP, especially with poor recordings of most pop music. The trebles was harsh, unbearable and make me feel like I wasted my money. At around 100 hours, that brightness, harshness starts to go away and improves more and more.
 
Why don't you let your new hp get going for a while to know exactly how it will turned out. It seems like you own couple other headphones, so you should know that sounds improves or changes over burn-in time.

 

[Aural1]

no I do not, but I auditioned it at my local dealer with my own LCD-3f, this is a LCD-3 thread after all. I find it to be quite a good match but not able to replaced my Hugo.
The fazor version, unburned in, treble will be harsh which gives the impression of being bright. The first 50 hours I had trouble listening to the HP, especially with poor recordings of most pop music. The trebles was harsh, unbearable and make me feel like I wasted my money. At around 100 hours, that brightness, harshness starts to go away and improves more and more.

Why don't you let your new hp get going for a while to know exactly how it will turned out. It seems like you own couple other headphones, so you should know that sounds improves or changes over burn-in time.

That's a relief to hear although it probably won't do much for improving the bass.(?) I hate harshness, that's why I gave up my HD-800's quick. I never actually burned in any of my headphones fast, just the slow gradual process of using it so that is probably why I never noticed any significant changes.

.

 

[Somphon]

That's a relief to hear although it probably won't do much for improving the bass.(?) I hate harshness, that's why I gave up my HD-800's quick. I never actually burned in any of my headphones fast, just the slow gradual process of using it so that is probably why I never noticed any changes.

.

 
The treble hardness will be gone, give it some time.
I find the bass to be more controlled but not more impact.

 

[bonesnv]

   
 
 
anyway, I didn't 'come up' with the numbers. I kept a log of my burn-in. I would say 90% accurate as some times I forgot to write exact time, but stopped after the sound become acceptable to my ears which was just above 200 hours. I notice differences starting at 100 hours onward and the top-end harshness is gone after 200 hours and the mids is still improving. I change from stock cables to Nordost Heimdall 2 after about 10 hours, which significantly improve the sounds to be more musical, smoother mids and trebles than stock at that point.

 
There was no offense intended, just the way it was stated you made it come off as "fact" that the headphones require that amount of burn-in in general to sound good, which is a completely personal thing, whether or not you even believe in burn-in (don't worry, not going down that path).  Not doubting the amount of time you spent "burning" them in, but mine worked straight out of the box, so I question its broad application as a requirement to have them sound good.

 

[mscott58]

   
There was no offense intended, just the way it was stated you made it come off as "fact" that the headphones require that amount of burn-in in general to sound good, which is a completely personal thing, whether or not you even believe in burn-in (don't worry, not going down that path).  Not doubting the amount of time you spent "burning" them in, but mine worked straight out of the box, so I question its broad application as a requirement to have them sound good.

To weigh in with my $0.02 I also found the LCD-3's to be very enjoyable straight out of the box (or travel case more specifically!) but then also agree that they open up with age/burn-in. I haven't been as detail oriented on recording my burn-in times, but I would guesstimate that somewhere around the ~150-175 hour mark is where I hit the point of optimal listening pleasure. I just left them on for a whole week or so since I was powering them off my solid-state Burson Conductor at the time. Now that I'm rocking the battery-powered Bakoon HPA-21 I have to remember to turn the amp off when I'm not listening so it can recharge.
 
Regarding burn-in more broadly, I am a big believer that there can be a significant change in how high-end audio items sound with use. The most obvious example of this was with my Merlin TSM-MME's two-way speakers. They sounded completely different upon first listen and calmed way down and got much more accurate with wearing in of the transducers and settling down of the electronic elements. Bobby at Merlin had to walk me off the edge after my first listening session with my new speakers as they sounded pretty bad and had issues with certain frequency ranges, especially the mid-bass. However, that all disappeared with use, just as he had told me. 
 
Thanks!

 

[isquirrel]

I am with Somphon on this one, I have yet to find a piece of audio gear that doesn't benefit from extended burn in from new. When I first received my LCD-3F I thought hmm might have made a mistake here when compared to the LCD-X's which would 1000+ hours on them as they sounded bright, there was some harshness and the bass was not nearly as extended as the X's. 
 
I have been running them 24/7 since so they now have over 300 hours on them They have improved significantly overall and specifically in the areas Aural1 has mentioned. This was my experience with the LCD-X as well. I make detailed listening notes using the same reference tracks on my listening gear and demo gear that I get sent, (I used to work in the audio industry so I am very fortunate to have access to high end gear as a result of friends who are kind enough to lend me equipment from time to time). 
 
That is not to say they were poor, on 1st listen they had a magic through their mid range especially with vocals, however as they worked through the burn in process they would sometimes sound worse and sometimes better, now they have passed 300 hours they have settled down and are more consistent.
 
I use the Purist Audio design system enhancer disk which I copied the aiff file from and leave it playing whenever I am not listening. This is a painless way to put the hours on.
 
When I saw Aural1's comments I thought it most likely he either had a bright source or that his LCD-3's were new.

 

[Somphon]

   
There was no offense intended, just the way it was stated you made it come off as "fact" that the headphones require that amount of burn-in in general to sound good, which is a completely personal thing, whether or not you even believe in burn-in (don't worry, not going down that path).  Not doubting the amount of time you spent "burning" them in, but mine worked straight out of the box, so I question its broad application as a requirement to have them sound good.

 
 
There are a lot of discussion about burning-in. The higher end equipment seems to need more burn-in than mass market products. I saw some articles in CNET that burn-in is a waste of time, but they mainly review gaming headphone.
 
At the higher end, in  forum, websites and manufacturers' site, we can see recommend burn-in period. Nordost officially recommends at least 200 hours for some of their product and even make the Vidar cable treatment system that customers here can use for free. The dealer told me it can put in years of burn-in time in a week.
 
My LCD-3f sounds great out of the box but the top end harshness was there, especially in poorer quality recordings. Adam Levine's voice in Lost Stars was hard to bear out of the box, I can't finish the songs until now. Anita Baker's Sweet Love was good but didn't sounds so sweet, didn't have that yummy LCD's sounds that I'm hearing now. Still I can see some improvement week by week with this hp.
 
Of course, we also have to consider if the source was conveying the details of the recording, assuming that the recording is good quality. I also know a lot of people who preferred their $5 over-ear over my LCD-3f because they are simply used to that sound all their life.
 
Lastly, some people have a lot of ear wax and unable to hear any differences at all.