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Again, just because YOU can't hear a difference doesn't mean there wasn't.
You believe in pad burn-in but not driver burn in? Do you have any measurements? I think pad burn in really doesn't exist!
I don't want this to turn into a "is burn in real?" thread, but:
I never said ear pad "burn in". Pads simply get softer after some time. They form to the shape of your head, therefore drivers get slightly closer to your ear. Most importantly, pads create a better seal around your ears. That does change the sound. Put the headphones on, and then press them into your head. You will hear changes in the sound, mostly more bass, less treble, overall fuller sound. Its simple and very easily tested. I don't have any measurement to prove that, but you don't need measurements, because anyone can try it and see if its true in about 5 seconds. Pads creating a better seal changes the sound, even on opened headphones, although its not as dramatic as on closed ones.
Let me get one thing straight. I know that sound coming from the driver
CHANGES as the driver works, but the thing is, you or anyone else don't have any measurements to prove that burn in of drivers
IMPROVES the sound quality. In fact, anyone who's ever done the measurements to compare new and burned in headphones said that its either a myth, or changes are very insignificant. Sound certainly doesn't get "much better" or anything of that sort after XXX hours. That is just impossible from every aspect, besides, why would manufacturers sell products which need 200-300 hours of running time just to start sounding good? It doesn't make sense. Its as if a car would do 0-60 in 10 seconds new out of the factory, and then after 20000 miles on the clock, it would suddenly do 0-60 in 6 seconds.
Yes, "burn-in" of drivers changes the frequency response and the sound
very slightly, but those changes are so tiny that they're even hard to detect with measurements (I highly doubt anyone can hear 0-1 or 0.2 db differences), and might as well be affected by changes in atmospheric pressure, moisture in air, room temperature / driver material temperature, etc. In any case, changes aren't big, and aren't permanent. If you go to youtube Innerfidelity channel, you will find a video showing that the frequency graph of Q701's varies constantly as the time passes. But it fluctuates, it changes at 30 hours, then at 40 goes back to where it was at 20, etc. It never settles, and you cant say "after 200 hours they sound much better", because at 220 hours the sound might be back where it was at 150 hours. The point is, fluctuations in sound are tiny, and the sound never settles, it always changes, but those changes are too small to be noticed.
If someone hears BIG changes in sound after XX hours, fine, but there are many factors that affect our hearing, and those BIG changes in perceived sound are then almost purely psychological, and until someone comes out with strong evidence to prove otherwise, its how it is. If someone puts the headphones into a drawer and lets them play music for a week in order to burn them in, during that week, he will constantly have a thought in the back of his mind, constantly thinking that headphones will miraculously sound much better next time he puts them on. And of course when he does put the headphones on, he will focus much more on sound (in order to hear the "changes"), and due to placebo effects and him focusing on the sound, he will feel that the headphones sound better, even though he doesn't even remember how exactly the headphones sounded 1 week ago.
Those are just my 2 cents...
Does burn in change sound? Yes...same as a tall building sinks into the ground with time, but nobody will notice.
Are those changes so dramatic that headphones would sound better after XX time? No. If you don't like headphones out of the box, you won't like them after a million years of burn in, and anyone who says otherwise is lying to himself.
