new Headphones , running them for 24 hours to break them in a waste of time ?
Apr 22, 2012 at 11:08 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 17
s8n

s8n

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hi Head-Fi members ,  i bought a pair of Sennheiser HD 280's years back and have bought a pair of new 650's about 6 months ago but have not used them yet as ive been saving for new gear to use them with.  I will have the money for everything in a couple of days then i going to purchase the new gear ,  when i got my 280's i ' broke them in ' by running them for 24 hours straight at a high volume level as i read it in the paper about 15 years ago.  Apparently there are some benefits to do this i cant remember though what they are ,  should i do the same with my 650's or am i wasting my time ?
 
 
any info helps
 
 
 
Apr 22, 2012 at 11:19 AM Post #2 of 17
While *burn-in* in this case probaly will have some slight effect, it won't make a bit of  difference  if you do it gradually with normal volume or blast them with high volume, the effect will hapen wither way. there's no 'right' way to do it, but there's defintey a wrong way in the sense that you can harm the drivers with extemely loud transients or sine waves so you allow the voice coil to heat up until it burns out, or theoretically, the membrane breaking apart..(never heard of it).
 
Apr 22, 2012 at 11:35 AM Post #3 of 17
Burn-in is a tricky subject. Some people will tell you they don't think it makes a difference. Some people will tell you that they always burn-in all of their components (new cables, DACs, amps, etc.) before using them. Some people will tell you that they just listen to their headphones as they would normally in an effort to see if the sound changes over the course of the first week or two. Some people will tell you that ~100 hours is good enough for most headphones. Some people will tell you that specific headphone models have an excessively long burn-in period of 200-300 hours.
 
Just, do whatever.
 
 
Apr 22, 2012 at 11:51 AM Post #4 of 17
Burn in initially was done, to test the components for failure. Ie, you use them for at least 24 hours straight, or up to 96 hours to stress the component to induce failure. If it doesnt fail, then chances are it will last for many years.

Some people found that in headphones that burnin actually changes the headphones sound for the better. I have burnt in my hd600s, 650s, and v-moda m80s. I can state from my own experiences that it did make a difference especially with the vmodas.

Not all headphones are affected by burn in equally or even at all. I think the better the quality of the headphones, the more it benefits from burn in. You not gonna get a benefit for burning in apple buds for instance.
 
Apr 22, 2012 at 12:13 PM Post #6 of 17
They arent going to explode lol, unless you have them at extremely high volumes. I use the lowest volume possible without it being inaudible.
Some people use white noise for burn in.
 
Apr 22, 2012 at 12:20 PM Post #8 of 17
hi all ,  excellent info from everyone..............judging from all posts im thinking of running them at 12hrs instead of 24 and at a volume of about medium instead of high.
 
 
I think im on the right track here ,  if anyone thinks otherwise let me know
 
 
Apr 22, 2012 at 1:28 PM Post #11 of 17
Here is my take. If they sound bad out of the box. Burn them in for 2-3 days. Give another listen. If they still sound bad then send them back.
 
Apr 22, 2012 at 1:47 PM Post #12 of 17
 
Quote:
s8n said:
hi Head-Fi members ,  i bought a pair of Sennheiser HD 280's years back and have bought a pair of new 650's about 6 months ago but have not used them yet as ive been saving for new gear to use them with.  I will have the money for everything in a couple of days then i going to purchase the new gear ,  when i got my 280's i ' broke them in ' by running them for 24 hours straight at a high volume level as i read it in the paper about 15 years ago.  Apparently there are some benefits to do this i cant remember though what they are ,  should i do the same with my 650's or am i wasting my time ?
 
 
any info helps
 
 
Click to expand...

 

Holy banans, that's not bad, waiting 6 months before using them takes some character I'd say.
on topic, without reading any other replys:
I'd say you already wasted six months so... PUT THEM ON ALREADY!!!!
beerchug.gif

 
Apr 23, 2012 at 9:54 PM Post #13 of 17
I don't really think burn in helps all that much. That's strictly my opinion though. I did the same with the HD-280 and must've put close to 100 hours on them, with no change in sound. From then, I've never burned any headphone in more than just putting them on my head and enjoying their sound.
 
 
Apr 24, 2012 at 2:24 AM Post #14 of 17
Never noticed a sound change in headphones from burning them in. But I have done that before in an attempt to see if there was a change, don't regret it as I consider it a stress test instead now. Those headphones work I have no doubts about that.
 
I am going to be placing an order for a pair of Superlux hd688b latter tonight and when I get them I will probably do a "burn in" as well or in my case I consider it a  "stress test" to make sure it work for an extended period of time. So my plan is to toss it on my Ipod at a somewhat low or normal listening volume for me and hit the shuffle button and go off on my business like any other day and do this for a day before I call it good.
 
Apr 24, 2012 at 6:02 AM Post #15 of 17
Depends entirely on the headphones themselves.
 
Certain drivers intrinsically require a certain number of hours of use (whether it be from "burn-in" or regular listening) before settling into its finalized state.
 
Certain drivers don't, you could have 1 fresh out of the box, another one with 200 hours of burning, and not be able to tell any difference A/Bing them.
 
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