" Burning In" Headphones

[DaveMtman]

I keep hearing about how headphones, speakers, audio equipment in general sound so much better after a period of "burn-In". How does one do this? Is there a CD you can buy with different "white noises" on it to help burn in audio equipment?
Do you run the audio equipment continuously for 2 or 3 hundred hours, or do you stop for awhile and start again? Any help/information on this would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[noddin0ff]

Many speakers are a little stiff when coming straight from manufacture. This stiffness affects the sound, but after a few minutes of play the motion the loosen up. The speakers I have took 5-15 minutes of moderate to loud play. Maybe they got better over then next handful of hours, but it would be hard to know. I'd say my experience is pretty typical.

I don't believe in 'burn in' for solid state electronics or cables -- meaning that I don't believe there is any audible effect. Pseudo-audiophlia-science-babble.

[nightflier]

I'll agree with Nod that the only burn-in effect I've noticed was with more organic/pliable gear (speakers, headphones, etc.), and things needing some warm-up time like tubes. But I also think it takes longer than 5 minutes - not necessarily 300+ hours, but at least a few hours of leaving the gear running.

Then again, much of this effect could just be psychological, where our ears and brains become accustomed to the sound of a piece of gear as we hear it over time and this makes us think that it sounds better after some time of being on. Heck it could simply be the expectation that it should sound better that makes us think that it actually does.

For those people who claim that cables improve over time (not in the first 5 minutes), I would really like to see some measurements to that effect. I seriously doubt any one's ear on that claim.

[markw]

Stick 'em between two pillows and play 'em at a normal listening level with a radio station for a couple of hours, or perhaps day or so if that makes you feel better. If they don't sound as good as you expected them to, send 'em back. They ain't gonna get any better.

You heara lot of things in this hobby and most should be taken with a grain of salt.

[Mr Peabody]

I had a couple pair of Sennheisers that didn't sound very good out of the box which came into their own after some burn in. My HD600's were very bright and cool sounding and I bought a set of portables that sounded terribly muffled, in each case I did what Markw mentioned, I plugged them into a preamp with a tuner and let them play over night and the next day while at work. The difference was very noticeable, the sound became more balanced and desireable. There was a bit more improvement over the next few times of use but changes soon stopped being noticeable.

I had a pair of Infinity bookshelf speakers that were unbalanced out of the box, it sounded like the tweeter was twice as loud as the woofer. I played those things for days and there was some improvement but not much, I eventually sent them back.

The craziest experience was with my Dynaudio t2.5's, those things took months to break in. You could hear bass but it was so tight it wasn't effective. It's hard to describe. I drove the dealer crazy I kept calling them each week and asking are you sure nothing is wrong. I didn't want to keep my stereo on for days. I did play it while at work for a couple days straight, you could hear it getting better but it literally took a couple months for them to finally fully open up. This is typical of a Dynaudio speaker though and the most extreme example I've ever run across. They make their own drivers and if you've ever heard the bass they are able to reproduce with a good amp you'll understand why they are like this.

I too have not heard any difference in my solid state out of the box compared to any time down the road. Nor, have I noticed cable benefiting from burn in.

I can definitely hear a difference in my tube gear from turn on, to about 30 minutes but that's really a different thing than burn in, it's more "warm up".

I haven't tried any of the tweak burn in stuff. Burn, or break, in you do when you take it out of the box until you feel it is starting to sound "right", it's not something that has to be repeated, like annually.

[Hyfi]

I had a couple pair of Sennheisers that didn't sound very good out of the box which came into their own after some burn in. My HD600's were very bright and cool sounding and I bought a set of portables that sounded terribly muffled, in each case I did what Markw mentioned, I plugged them into a preamp with a tuner and let them play over night and the next day while at work. The difference was very noticeable, the sound became more balanced and desireable. There was a bit more improvement over the next few times of use but changes soon stopped being noticeable.

I had a pair of Infinity bookshelf speakers that were unbalanced out of the box, it sounded like the tweeter was twice as loud as the woofer. I played those things for days and there was some improvement but not much, I eventually sent them back.

The craziest experience was with my Dynaudio t2.5's, those things took months to break in. You could hear bass but it was so tight it wasn't effective. It's hard to describe. I drove the dealer crazy I kept calling them each week and asking are you sure nothing is wrong. I didn't want to keep my stereo on for days. I did play it while at work for a couple days straight, you could hear it getting better but it literally took a couple months for them to finally fully open up. This is typical of a Dynaudio speaker though and the most extreme example I've ever run across. They make their own drivers and if you've ever heard the bass they are able to reproduce with a good amp you'll understand why they are like this.

I too have not heard any difference in my solid state out of the box compared to any time down the road. Nor, have I noticed cable benefiting from burn in.

I can definitely hear a difference in my tube gear from turn on, to about 30 minutes but that's really a different thing than burn in, it's more "warm up".

I haven't tried any of the tweak burn in stuff. Burn, or break, in you do when you take it out of the box until you feel it is starting to sound "right", it's not something that has to be repeated, like annually.

I never really heard any major difference with my Grado 125s. They sounded great out of the box. They may have improved ever so slightly but I was never critical about it.

I have to agree about Dynaudio drivers. My 82s took a little while before the bass was not stifled. No idea how many hours but after several weeks of normal (couple hrs/day) they opened up nicely.

I know many disagree but I swear my Stratos amp became quieter and more controlled after a few weeks of play. Nice compliment to the Danes with a tube pre.

[RoadRunner6]

I've had many heaphones over almost 4 decades and never had a problem with burn-in. I always am very careful and avoid pausing any music source for more than several minutes or playing any source with a 3/4 tempo such as Beethoven's Piano Sonata in A flat, Op. 110.

Follow these simple rules and you will find that burn-in is a thing of the past.

RR6

[Mr Peabody]

LOL, RR6, I believe you missed what is meant by "burn in" or "break in". This isn't the same as what happens to a TV screen. We are talking about breaking them in, sometimes brand new voice coils are very tight and require some use before they loosen up and allow the headphone or speaker to sound the way it should. Some people talk about this in other various electronics but I personally haven't noticed it except for some headphones and speakers I've owned. If break in is needed for electronics or cables it was so gradual or subtle I wasn't able to detect it. In the speaker and headphones though it was very obvious.

[RoadRunner6]

Mr. Peabody,

I saw the term burn-in used above instead of the maybe more correct term break in and I thought I would slip in a little plasma screen burn-in humor. (Of course, paused sources can cause image retention and 3x4 sources with side bars can cause burn-in).

I agree that the Grado headphones are great headphones. Personaly I usually need the isolation so I am on the my third pair of Sony MDR-V6's. I don't think they are still on the market but they are an excellent value at about $70. I abuse them a lot and they are reasonably comfortable with quite good sound.

Even though I think it is generally overstated, I find that a few speakers really do improve with some break in time and probably some headphones might benefit also. I simply hook them up and play medium volume music or interstation FM hiss or test CD pink noise when I first buy them. It surely can't hurt.

RR6

[filecat13]

The pistonic drive, inverted Ti domes and rubber surrounds on my JBL Performance Series were tighter than a Nun's..er.. grip on a ruler... out of the box. I thought I'd made a mistake spending that much money. After a few days, they were wonderful, and I've never regretted the purchase since.

My Sennheiser headphones needed some time to open up and sound right to me, or I just got used to them. OTOH, my mid-70s Koss 'phones we incredible from day one.

My Citation 5.0 pre/pro really did go through a "burn in." For the first month it would start to smell like burning rubber, then shut down. The next time it would perform fine. Then randomly it would start smelling and shut down. Finally it cured itself, and it really did seem to be better sounding after the burning stopped.

[filecat13]

Or maybe the smoke somehow ruined the experience for me.

[Mr Peabody]

Oh...... the humor went right over my head, next time use more inflexion