Was there a question or comment associated, or just throwing it up for fun? If there's a legit question that can be answered, we've been consistent in answering them on other forums and would do the same here if its a reasoned, genuine question.
Caelin covered the technical angle of power cord break in from his point of view because it had become a common topic on the forums he posted it to --and his opinion was requested by the OP. There are those that have genuine curiosity about the topic and of course, others who believe it's all part of a larger myth of power cables affecting performance at all. Posting a naked link here is a little like chumming for sharks from the looks of it..
Frankly, outside of the internet forums, which draw opinion from all over-- even from those that won't be bothered to try an aftermarket power cord, there is no break-in debate. It is not a subtle enough phenomenon that it could be confused with mood, unfamiliarity ("getting to know you") or the senses being fooled. If a system is well calibrated for 2-ch listening, the arc of most custom-designed power cord's performance over the first five days is dramatic and consistent to each product.
Those who were not aware of the degree of these effects have been calling me for the better part of 14 years. The descriptive comments based on the days of use are so similar that I no longer need them to describe whatever they are hearing. They just need to tell me how many days (hours of use) they have with the product and I can accurately describe the general sound characteristics of that stage. Either I'm clairvoyant (which I'm definitely not), or there are consistent, easy to identify similarities in how a specific model power cord (of ours) will sound on each day after it is brought home and used.
Obviously, each class and type of product will have their own unique burn-in cycle, but the associated characteristics of a cable's performance as it changes over a specific time interval is similar for a given product. Again, its not a subtle phenomenon.
At the top of the recording/mastering community, where the best engineers examine sound so carefully its as if by microscope, most of them understand and accept burn-in of any new cable product as a simple fact of life. If they move, bend or otherwise mishandle cable, they know it has to sit for a few hours with signal/current to re-stabilize.
This phenomenon hasn't been measured and explicated scientifically because no one's going to enter into that research without serious funding or in essence "get paid" for the work. Even if incontrovertible truths were uncovered, the forum arguments would continue much as they are and the measurements would be refuted (quacks, paid off etc).
There are generally two poles of opinion that are common to these types of discussions. Pole One: are end users who have empirical experience with countless products that go through rather unequivocal changes over the first week or more of use. Pole Two: are those who have already determined without having performed their own tests that burn in related to power cords and, or cables in general is based on the wild imaginings of the audiophile community. There are Poles in between, sure, but these are the main two.
I hope this sheds a bit of context on Caelin's post that got dart-boarded….
Regards,
Grant
Shunyata Research
