[spinali]

Admittedly, a vastly overdone topic, and apologies for that...but the poll has never been conducted with the right questions. I'd, for one, be fascinated to know the real numbers. Hardly "scientific," but it would provide a ballpark number for the first time.

Feel free to leave your tally and comment.

Have you heard headphone break-in?

 

[ecclesand]

Toll

 

[smeggy]

Doll

 

[bebanovich]

Keep it going you're on a . . . roll.

 

[Nebby]

Like...woah.

 

[003]

Poll

 

[kool bubba ice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinali /img/forum/go_quote.gif Admittedly, a vastly overdone topic, and apologies for that...but the poll has never been conducted with the right questions. I'd, for one, be fascinated to know the real numbers. Hardly "scientific," but it would provide a ballpark number for the first time. Feel free to leave your tally and comment. Have you heard headphone break-in?

I doubt break in occurs. I think people just become accustomed to the sound more then the sound changing over time..But I could be wrong. I know I broken in many shoes before..

 

[nsjong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kool bubba ice /img/forum/go_quote.gif I doubt break in occurs. I think people just become accustomed to the sound more then the sound changing over time..But I could be wrong. I know I broken in many shoes before..

Let's not get into this thing again.
It's different upon people, like how people enjoy different things and have different perspectives.

As for me, I heard it. I've tested new and 2 week-old pairs side by side, so for me I know it's not a perplexing argument.

 

[choomanchoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 003 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Poll

atoll

 

[Kurashima]

Ok, now that the rhyming's over. . . I definitely believe in burn-in, but not for all headphones and not for the amount of hours that some people claim. Here's how it is broken up by new headphones I've tried:

Burn-in is real!

AT A900: The master of showing burn-in in my collection. The sound changed big time in the first ten hours, and was just about done (as far as I can tell) after around 24.

Senn PX100: These changed a fair amount as well.

Sony D66 "Eggos": The biggest difference came within a few hours, the change being that the highs were not as sharp anymore.

Neutral.

Senn HD555/595: It's hard for me to say since I burned these in basically when I first got them, and for a while too.

Senn MX400 / Bose Triport IEs: I really can't recall with these buds, though I'd say the change was little if any.

No Burn-in here!

Sony EX71s / EX90s
V-Moda Vibes
Apple In-Ears

 

[lamb]

My usual practice is to hear my headphone/earphone/IEM for some hours when I first bought them. Then, I'll connect them to my PC and play music continuously for the coming week or so (with moderate sound level at first). During the break-in period, I'll listen to them for 1 to 2 hours daily.

All of my headphones/earphone/IEM that I hear break-in, they lack bass, sound stage and are harsh at first. The sound quality does improve in time.

After 8 days, most headphones/earphones/IEM are break-in, then I'll stop the process.

Some guys won't do the break-in continuously like me. They listen to the headphone like normal daily listening, but then the break-in time will take a year or so. Also, the break-in will not be so noticeable, as the break-in process happens over a very long period of time, and it'll be more easily for one to forget the sound quality months ago.

I haven't heard break-in for all my headphones/earphone/IEM because some are cheap ones that come with mp3 player, cd player or mobile phone. I won't spend time in breaking them in, because I don't use them. Nevertheless, they're very good as loading for breaking in my headphone amps.

 

[dissembled]

I thought my EH350 burned in. Sonical changes were actually a result of
- headband adjustment
- pads aging over time (dewrinkled --> sounded virtually identical to stock form

)

I still believe in burn in though. For phones anyway.

click.

Quote:

As an Electrical Engineer, i can tell you that the concept of burn-in may indeed be valid. The headphone 'speakers' essentially consist of a flexible polymer membrane attached to a wound copper coil surrounded by a series of magnets. When electrical current oscillates in the coil, the membrane flexes back and forth. The nature of polyemers is one of initial deformation, before settling into a stable state. In layman's terms, the plastic membrane 'stretches' after the initial few hours of use before settling into a stable state. As the membrane stretches, it essentially 'loosens up' allowing a greater dynamic range to be reproduced. So yes, the theory of 'burn-in' is valid, however the degree of noticability may be small. Its likely only true audiophiles may, if they're lucky be able to perceive a difference in sound quality after the headphones have been 'burnt-in'.

Quote:

Solid state gear cannot get 'burnt-in". In our engineering laboratories we cycle a variety of Bipolar and Mosfet transistors for extended periods of times at varying voltages as frequencies in order to determine their 'durability'. There is no change in attributes over the testing periods, except when in some cases the devices simply fail. Their response remains static throughout the test. Cables also cannot get burnt in. A cable is essentially a conductor with a sea of free electrons 'floating' in a metal lattice, which get shoved around by a varying electrostatic potentials (voltages) at each end of the cable. As with solid state devices, there is no deterioration and/or change in the behaviour of a copper cable as a result of use. The only change in performance is when either the connectors or part of the metallic internals of the cable oxidises, which can result in an increase in resistance. Hope that info helped.

 

[Hi-Finthen]

Yes, on all my phones some to a greater degree , ie k701 & to a lesser degree yet highly evident with my DT-990s, on thru k501s and the least with the D-2000s...IME

 

[spinali]

I'm reminded of a curious incident with two cheapie HD201s i broke in back to back. On first listening, there was a distortion artifact I couldn't get rid of. Overnight, the same piece at the same volume sounded clear. Either I was imagining something, or something happened. If an aspect of sound with such a clear benchmark varies over time...

 

[donunus]

burn in is there on all my cans but more on some. my dt990s for ex. didnt change much after 150 hours and made me sell them. px100s change a little, maybe just as little as grados from my memory. the senn 555s changed the most. the 595s did not change as much but are still changing until now(around 200 hours).