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Headphone and Audio Equipment Burn In
(Edited)
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779
Keyboard Club Member
Aug 11, 2021
Biggest changes I've experienced from burn in were Blon BL05s's and Shuoer Tapes
Blon's going from muddy unnatural bass to pretty reasonable quality and impact (about 72 hours burn in)
Shuor's going from basically making my ears bleed after 5 mins from the sharp highs to being fine for around an hour before becoming fatiguing (depending on songs) (about 72 hours burn in) and then did another week of burn in which improved it some more (around an hour and a half before being fatiguing)
Birning in Amps I haven't noticed any difference outside of tubes but ymmv
Dacs I wouldn't expect to have any noticeable changes but ymmv
Most of the IEM's/headphones I have ended up with small changes from burn in but a couple didn't have any noticeable changes
If you don't have any issues with it I'd say don't bother but it also wouldn't hurt to do a 72 hour burn in lol
HaVoCTzu
274
May 22, 2021
I have a lot of gear and most of them I have not noticed a significant improvement after burn-in. However there are a few that have has drastic improvements.
Denafrips Terminator (R2R dac) had the largest improvement and took 3 days to even sound good, it sounded bad-/harsh out of the box) and after a week it sounded excellent.
other R2R dacs I’ve had have also benefited from burn-in, but not as much.
haven’t noticed hardly any burn-in improvement with cables or solid state amps, or chip DACs.
albumrock
9
Nov 17, 2019
Ask any Guitarist with a Tube Amp that question and they will drive their Fender Deluxe Reverb Hard intentional "searching"
dcha12
461
Sep 2, 2019
I've always felt that things like this were more mental than actual, measurable changes (throw in brain burn-in and you got a huge can of worms). It always takes a bit to adjust to new equipment. And even when adjusted, things change based on mood and other things.
Tastes also can change over time. Sometimes, your tastes change even though your system doesn't, and it moves to fit your current system. Sometimes, it moves the opposite way and you end up wanting to change something.
Similar experience I had was with a Hifiman HE-560. I actually really hated it when I first got it (was part of a trade). Nowadays it finds itself in the normal rotation and I enjoy it (only mod really applied was putting on Dekoni pads).
TL;DR, if you're happy, you're happy. Don't question it too much.
dcha12
461
Sep 2, 2019
Biggest thing is to enjoy yourself and listen to your MUSIC, not your GEAR. We're in the hobby to enjoy ourselves not agonize if spending more will get us more satisfaction (that being said, nothing wrong with buying new stuff).
LuckyLuke575
561
Sep 2, 2019
dcha12Yeah, I totally agree. A lot of ppl get obsessed with having the next set of cans, amp, cables, chasing end game(s) etc instead of being happy with what they have.
I think there's a balance to be struck between buying stuff and settling on a certain setup, and then going back to concentrating on using the equipment for it's intended purpose.
I like having the next thing to buy lined up, but it's not to replace any of the main pieces (e.g. adding Mogami interconnects). In other cases I've added on a whole new set of components (e.g. turntable, integrated amp, speakers).
rastus
1391
Aug 31, 2019
benjdbs
7
Aug 18, 2019
jaxtrauma
2103
Aug 14, 2019
(Edited)
tnama
0
Aug 13, 2019
Back when I was in home hi-fi I always found amplifiers and speakers to benefit from burning in, especially speakers. My technique, where possible by speaker driver placement, would be to wire them out of phase and place the drivers as close as possible so they cancel each other out and play music at a reasonable volume for 24 hours. I think because speakers are mechanical burning in works. And I had a proper room dedicated to music. My music shop pals also burned-in their equipment before allowing customers to hear them. Tubes are of course a different principle, needing not so much burn-in but warming up.
Now I burn-in my iems and headphones and do find a difference. My most recent DMG/BMG(?) and AE-10 purchases sounded tinny before burn-in. I do it because I know it works so I don't really care what others say. Even car hi-fi benefits from burn-in. I had a sub that I had to re-tune after a week because the sound had changed.
dolljoints
155
Dec 3, 2020
tnamaneeding to re-tune it is an element that has more objectivity to it, so that's interesting
ronjamesco
2
Aug 13, 2019
yes....Fostex T-line headphones and Argons benefit greatly...and I mean GREATLY from burn in over many, many hours.
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