[harmonix]

I observed a little different....

0-5 hours....dumb phase....it sounded harsh, thin, cold
5+ hours, I heard the bass improved after every hour, like more power, more depth, more decay......
25+ hours, I heard mids opened up some air, vocal do the same, and become thicker
50+ hours, the bass is no longer changing, but mids, vocals, highs, soundstage.....these three takes turns and shine
100+ hours, the vocal became clearer, more details and space.....even had some sibilances...
125+ hours, the sibilance is gone, lower-high shown fuller body, and soundstage start getting larger
175+ hours, the soundstage has even more depth, width, and 3D images is starting to show better
200 hours.....stablelized ....no changes so far at 250 hours....

I had been listening to it...like I said, new IEMS or DAPs....to observe the changes through burn in is a privillage

The biggest downer for me was 25-50 hours. The sense of timing of various frequencies were not "on time/on beat".
Just to make sure maybe you should purchase another ZX2 and listen through the break in again

 

[Whitigir]

The biggest downer for me was 25-50 hours. The sense of timing of various frequencies were not "on time/on beat".
Just to make sure maybe you should purchase another ZX2 and listen through the break in again

That would be ZX3 hahaha

 

[cjpinner]

I observed a little different....

0-5 hours....dumb phase....it sounded harsh, thin, cold
5+ hours, I heard the bass improved after every hour, like more power, more depth, more decay......
25+ hours, I heard mids opened up some air, vocal do the same, and become thicker
50+ hours, the bass is no longer changing, but mids, vocals, highs, soundstage.....these three takes turns and shine
100+ hours, the vocal became clearer, more details and space.....even had some sibilances...
125+ hours, the sibilance is gone, lower-high shown fuller body, and soundstage start getting larger
175+ hours, the soundstage has even more depth, width, and 3D images is starting to show better
200 hours.....stablelized ....no changes so far at 250 hours....

I had been listening to it...like I said, new IEMS or DAPs....to observe the changes through burn in is a privillage

I remember an article where John Grado was asked about burn in, from what I can recall he said something along the lines of, "all mechanical things require time to break in". I may be way off but I assume if electrical force is measurable then there's probably a burn in associated with that as well. My best guess would be the capacitors ability to charge and then release that energy. Am I totally wrong? Does anyone have a more scientific explanation?

 

[Aimin Liao]

Hi. Sir
  I just got my Sony ZX2 two days ago. I want to do same thing as you did. Please tell me how to disable the apps ( any apps come with the word " google " )  . We can disable those apps on the  ZX2 or we have to connect this ZX2 to the computer . Thanks . Greatly appreciate your answer. 
 
    David

 

[AUDIOBREEDER]

I for one think all this 'burn-in' is fictional. When you buy a lamborghini the 0-60sec will not change with any number of start-ups. Take another example like a computer, do HDD require burn in before the mechanical platters read faster? So why something so small need burn in, be it an iem/headphone.
Even if you notice sound changing how to know it's the components and not some software doing the trick? 200 hours of burn-in wastes so much of the battery life in terms of longevity. I for one don't listen to music no more than 4 hours a week but during that time I would like to listen to music like an audiophile. So according to the 200 burn-in I have listened to 50 weeks of my music listening time!

I remember an article where John Grado was asked about burn in, from what I can recall he said something along the lines of, "all mechanical things require time to break in". I may be way off but I assume if electrical force is measurable then there's probably a burn in associated with that as well. My best guess would be the capacitors ability to charge and then release that energy. Am I totally wrong? Does anyone have a more scientific explanation?

 

[cjpinner]

I for one think all this 'burn-in' is fictional. When you buy a lamborghini the 0-60sec will not change with any number of start-ups. Take another example like a computer, do HDD require burn in before the mechanical platters read faster? So why something so small need burn in, be it an iem/headphone.
Even if you notice sound changing how to know it's the components and not some software doing the trick? 200 hours of burn-in wastes so much of the battery life in terms of longevity. I for one don't listen to music no more than 4 hours a week but during that time I would like to listen to music like an audiophile. So according to the 200 burn-in I have listened to 50 weeks of my music listening time!

It's definitely tough to tell, especially when trying to compare the sound over so many hours of time. I'm on the fence about it, sometimes I think I hear it but then again it could be something as simple as the placement of my IEM's. I've noticed that tubes tend to "settle" in after a certain amount of time but that's a whole other ballgame.
 
Is there any official statement from Sony considering "Burn in" on the player, is the 100-200 hours something that people came up with through experimenting or is this a company recommendation? 

 

[kms108]

 

I for one think all this 'burn-in' is fictional. When you buy a lamborghini the 0-60sec will not change with any number of start-ups. Take another example like a computer, do HDD require burn in before the mechanical platters read faster? So why something so small need burn in, be it an iem/headphone.
Even if you notice sound changing how to know it's the components and not some software doing the trick? 200 hours of burn-in wastes so much of the battery life in terms of longevity. I for one don't listen to music no more than 4 hours a week but during that time I would like to listen to music like an audiophile. So according to the 200 burn-in I have listened to 50 weeks of my music listening time!

It's definitely tough to tell, especially when trying to compare the sound over so many hours of time. I'm on the fence about it, sometimes I think I hear it but then again it could be something as simple as the placement of my IEM's. I've noticed that tubes tend to "settle" in after a certain amount of time but that's a whole other ballgame.
 
Is there any official statement from Sony considering "Burn in" on the player, is the 100-200 hours something that people came up with through experimenting or is this a company recommendation? 

 
It has been mentioned officially, you need to read within the thread, it has been discussed.

 

[spatzi]

It has been mentioned officially, you need to read within the thread, it has been discussed.

It has been discussed??? Why not just answer the question? In the same amount of time it took to post your non answer, you can say "Sony says 100 hours is the recommended burn in time."

 

[cjpinner]

   
It has been mentioned officially, you need to read within the thread, it has been discussed.

 
Sorry my bad, I ended up finding it. After you mentioned it though 

 

[kms108]

 

It has been mentioned officially, you need to read within the thread, it has been discussed.

It has been discussed??? Why not just answer the question? In the same amount of time it took to post your non answer, you can say "Sony says 100 hours is the recommended burn in time."

If you have read the post from the other member, he ask if it has been mentioned officially, try reading my post, I replied accordingly, I would of searched for the actual section, but doing this on a phone is a pain.

 

[Cecala]

I for one think all this 'burn-in' is fictional. When you buy a lamborghini the 0-60sec will not change with any number of start-ups. Take another example like a computer, do HDD require burn in before the mechanical platters read faster? So why something so small need burn in, be it an iem/headphone.
Even if you notice sound changing how to know it's the components and not some software doing the trick? 200 hours of burn-in wastes so much of the battery life in terms of longevity. I for one don't listen to music no more than 4 hours a week but during that time I would like to listen to music like an audiophile. So according to the 200 burn-in I have listened to 50 weeks of my music listening time!

Buy a new car and the dealer will instruct you to keep the revs down for 1500-3000 kms or so. What you say about the Lamborghini might be true, in that the engine is better assembled together and therefore any 'play' will be minimal although with lesser stuff a caveat is necessary. Some years ago I purchased a pair of speakers which sounded terrible upon first listen, as if the woofers were blown. I let them play for two days and like magic they opened up.

 

[jonstatt]

In fact Sony, haven't just stated in interviews about the running-in period, but they actually force this message down your throats with the device itself. When you first power up the ZX2 you get nudged into a couple of help pages that explain about the fact it takes 100 hours to run in the device. Screenshots of these pages have been posted earlier in this thread.
 
Considering that the battery is good for anything between 30-60 hours of playback depending on the file type, it would be about 3 charge cycles to get through 100 hours which is hardly a big deal. If Sony had to pre-run these things in it would add enormously to the price.
 
A couple of forum posters have suggested it continues to improve up to 200 hours but I can't vouch for that yet as I am nowhere near that point yet.
 
When the manufacturer themselves states a running in period, you tend to take it more seriously. Conversely, Audeze who make planar headphones such as the LCD-3, have specifically stated that there is no running in period and that their headphones do not change with age. However there are forum posters who swear otherwise. So unfortunately there is a mix of true and placebo "running in", and unfortunately some companies themselves make highly dubious claims. For example, the infamous company who I won't name that said their analogue audio cables had directional arrows on them, because they sound better connected one way around than the other. I don't put Sony into that camp.

 

[Whitigir]

Yes...it is true as I have heard no changes after 200 hours

 

[harmonix]

I remember an article where John Grado was asked about burn in, from what I can recall he said something along the lines of, "all mechanical things require time to break in". I may be way off but I assume if electrical force is measurable then there's probably a burn in associated with that as well. My best guess would be the capacitors ability to charge and then release that energy. Am I totally wrong? Does anyone have a more scientific explanation?

Yes but for different reasons. The caps and super caps need time for the electrical characteristics (I.e charge/discharge) to stabilise because of the chemical and material components within those devices. For wires there is another thing going on which is an interaction between the conductors and the dielectric/insulation material - that requires time to stabilise as well. We often forget that electrical energy has another component. Long story short the dielectric component itself has a polarisation caused by running electricity through the wires. That interaction between the two requires an "equilibrium".

Now my pet peeves

1) People should not expect answers as a right. It is a gift of time and effort from others

2) where the heck were people during high school physics? Come on maxwells equations were mentioned even though you typically don't dive into the differential equations until college.... At least the general principles should be there?

 

[Cecala]

  In fact Sony, haven't just stated in interviews about the running-in period, but they actually force this message down your throats with the device itself. When you first power up the ZX2 you get nudged into a couple of help pages that explain about the fact it takes 100 hours to run in the device. Screenshots of these pages have been posted earlier in this thread.
 
Considering that the battery is good for anything between 30-60 hours of playback depending on the file type, it would be about 3 charge cycles to get through 100 hours which is hardly a big deal. If Sony had to pre-run these things in it would add enormously to the price.
 
A couple of forum posters have suggested it continues to improve up to 200 hours but I can't vouch for that yet as I am nowhere near that point yet.
 
When the manufacturer themselves states a running in period, you tend to take it more seriously. Conversely, Audeze who make planar headphones such as the LCD-3, have specifically stated that there is no running in period and that their headphones do not change with age. However there are forum posters who swear otherwise. So unfortunately there is a mix of true and placebo "running in", and unfortunately some companies themselves make highly dubious claims. For example, the infamous company who I won't name that said their analogue audio cables had directional arrows on them, because they sound better connected one way around than the other. I don't put Sony into that camp.

...........and don't forget to place them on little stands so they don't touch the ground.