What's the usual burn in on planars? My usual routine is on a new pair to let them play at least 48 hours off the PC before really listening to them.. I can't stand feeling I bought a bad pair because of initial listening pre burn ins.
Yeah, no, that's actually wrong.
Burn in is 100% real for any speaker with mechanical suspension. The same is true for any amplifier circuit with capacitors.
Burn in time varies greatly by manufacturer, and the materials used are very important. Yes, the differences are sometimes small, but the main thing is to recognise that magnetic load lines and BL linearity are actually very dependent on the suspension used, sometimes as much as gap clearances and offsets.
When you buy better speakers and headphones, you should look for better materials that assist linearity. This will transfer into a longer lifetime of enjoyment.
Enjoy your hobby, but don't spread misinformation.
If you can provide me with any evidence that break-in produces even a slightly meaningful change in sound, I'll gladly change my mind. I imagine that the biggest change would be in waterfall plots.
There have been some write-ups on break in with measurements before and after for speakers, but I think this is one of those issues that just hasn't been investigated thoroughly enough by actual researchers instead of just hobbyists. While psychoacoustics is a huge issue plaguing reviews of audio equipment, I would suggest being careful in calling something out when there's a huge consensus of subjective impressions suggesting the opposite. It's likely we just aren't measuring the right things to be able to display break-in effects.
The evidence, I believe to be most important, is each persons ear. We all hear things differently. I listened to my Grado's SR80e's for a couple days then turned up the volume a little, walked away for 3-4 days and let them stretch. I personally feel I noticed a difference in the mids and the lows after that time and listening to the same songs I had listened to before the "burn in". I guess it could be psychological since I was hoping to hear a difference but I don't know, I still love em.