[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torrentz /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

I got a question, do these need a burn in?

 

When doing break-in (I have no idea why people keep using "burn in" when headphones are mechanical; it's not like they "burn in" their new car's engines) on headphones you don't just affect the driver, you also affect the earpads. In all my years in audio the only time I've ever observed it was when I was breaking in my Wharfedale Diamond 8.2 - as I totally did a double take and went back to the previous track when it suddenly sounded different. i haven't observed the same effect in any other speaker, headphone, or IEM, and I haven't exactly left these running for 24hrs only to luckily come back home at around the time that the sound changed (as with the Wharfedales). So as far as the drivers are concerned, I wouldn't really sweat it - just use them.

 

The earpads however are another matter. They get squeezed depending on the pressure on how you wear them and that can affect how far the drivers are from your ears (vs a looser setting) as well as affect how they retain their shape. If they're a little stiff and you don't mind them being somewhat flatter, then get a pile of books or boxes, have them upright, and then put the headphones on them like putting them on your head, only these need to be a little wider to soften up the pads as well as stretch the headband a little bit (depending on the construction of the headphones there are other ways to do this). If you have no comfort issues, no need to do this - just use the headphones.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torrentz /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

They sound a little different, the bass is less punchy (I like the bass on my v55's more) 

 

Could be due to a flatter response.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torrentz /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

and the 's' word is much cleaner, is there a name for that? (I don't know any audiophile terms, sorry). Vocals do sound much cleaner aswell. 

 

That's called sibilance. Depending on the transducer type it can be due to peaks in the treble response, but speakers can have other issues such as reflections off the walls of the room they're in which either boosts it or hearing the same note from both sides several times over, out of sync with the other freqs it goes with, or a time alignment issue, most common in car audio systems since you don't sit smack in the middle, where you hear the sound of the same note with a microsecond delay on the far side tweeter (add to that how you get reflections all over a car cabin, particularly off the windshield when the tweeters are on the dash or A-pillars, and then the rest of the cabin is plastic, not acoustic foam).

 

Overall, definitely seems like a flatter response. Likely if there is a very wide bass to low mids plateau on the V55 then even if the midrange and treble response are comparable that can result in auditory masking