Burn in

Michaels HiFi

Michaels HiFi

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Ok guys - when you get a new piece of gear/cable to you burn in right away or do you just let in burn in over time through normal play?

Curios what others do.

I put it on 24/7 burn in and track notes and burn-in time at 25 hour increments on a spreadsheet. I also typically will put at least 300 to 350 hours on it before serious listening commences.

As an example, my Luxman 509x really opened up at 275 hours, but at 350 hours this weekend I noticed it developed a delicacy in the way it presented the music and seemed more musical.
 
I let the time go naturally for the most part since I just don't leave electrical devices running if not actually in use.

It had been a long time since I had purchased anything new that would possibly benefit from burn in - break in, but over the last 3 years everything is new.

My Fynes took a long time to settle in. It also took my ears and brain many hours to "burn in" to a totally new and different speaker and sound characteristics. Out of the box, Bass was not right and there was some in your face qualities with kick drum and snare shots that took a while to go away. I would say somewhere between 300 and 500 hours allowed them to settle in. Once my hearing had adjusted to the speakers, it was much easier to hear the changes which went from bad to good to worse to better and now great. One thing I did was play lots of Bass Heavy tracks and one day I could swear the sound got better after playing Marcus Miller M2 at good volume.

When I got my Luxman, I did not pay as much attention because it was already the best sound I ever had. But, it did change over time, no idea on the hours, and I noticed similar changes as OP.

Next was a new Rotel 1572. Again out of the box the best CD Player I had owned replacing the 1072 workhorse. I did not pay much attention to burn in on the CDP.

Lastly I got a pair of Nordost XLRs to patch the Rotel to the Lux since they were both balanced. Mike used the Nordost Vidar on them before he sent them out. The Vidar is supposed to burn them in prior to use. I was replacing some older Synergistic Research Kaleidoscope ICs and at first listen, the Nordosts sounded like Crap. Ii gave them some time to settle in, maybe they were cold :)
Again I did not count the hours but they became more detailed and tighter with some time.
 
Mikado463 said:
yeah baby, another dumpster fire / train wreck in the making !!:popcorn:
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Only if people turn it into one. Let's watch and see if anyone / who does.

Hopefully no-one is triggered by my sharing what I do with new gear. If they disagree with my process or the concept of burn in, I have no problem with that and respect their opinion on it. :)
 
Shadowfax said:
It also took my ears and brain many hours to "burn in" to a totally new and different speaker and sound characteristics.
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and this is the part so many audiophiles have trouble with comprehending. It always cracks me up when someone thinks they can recall what something sounded like 500 hrs ago......... NO YOU CANNOT !!
 
Mikado463 said:
and this is the part so many audiophiles have trouble with comprehending. It always cracks me up when someone thinks they can recall what something sounded like 500 hrs ago......... NO YOU CANNOT !!
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Oh I can still describe how the bass sounded out of the box on my Fynes. I also can remember the other issue I mentioned and none of it is there anymore and did not have anything to do with my overall hearing adjustment.
 
Shadowfax said:
Oh I can still describe how the bass sounded out of the box on my Fynes. I also can remember the other issue I mentioned and none of it is there anymore and did not have anything to do with my overall hearing adjustment.
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understood, but auditory recall and the ability to pinpoint after that many hours is VoDoo. I'm not disputing the 'break-in' of an electromechanical device, rather some of the absurd claims that some audiophiles make.

in the end I couldn't care less what anyone wants to believe in, Santa, the Easter Bunny, whatever ..........
 
Most of my electronics I just break in by normal listening. Speakers I will let run while I'm not home or overnight at a low level to put some hours on them. I had a set of Dynaudio I thought would never break in, the bass was there but so tight you just knew they needed more time, plus, they didn't sound like they did in the demo. They eventually came around but they were the longest audio piece I ever had to break in.
 
Had 2 pair of speakers, both from the same mfr.
One pair changed subtly over time.
The other pair changed quite dramatically. The change was obvious.

I did/ do nothing special for break in.
 
BobInWI said:
Had 2 pair of speakers, both from the same mfr.
One pair changed subtly over time.
The other pair changed quite dramatically. The change was obvious.

I did/ do nothing special for break in.
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I think the is very interesting that the same speakers differed like that. I wonder if it was manufacturing variances in the components?
 
Mr Peabody said:
Most of my electronics I just break in by normal listening.
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perfect......

Speakers I will let run while I'm not home or overnight at a low level to put some hours on them. I had a set of Dynaudio I thought would never break in, the bass was there but so tight you just knew they needed more time, plus, they didn't sound like they did in the demo. They eventually came around but they were the longest audio piece I ever had to break in.
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Was the demo done in the store or your listening room ? If the latter then that explains the amount of time to get used to different bass freq response because of room interaction.
 
BobInWI said:
Had 2 pair of speakers, both from the same mfr.
One pair changed subtly over time.
The other pair changed quite dramatically. The change was obvious.

I did/ do nothing special for break in.
Click to expand...

2 pairs of different model speakers from the same manufacturer?
 
MichaelsMinute said:
I think the is very interesting that the same speakers differed like that. I wonder if it was manufacturing variances in the components?
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I wasn't clear. Speakers are from the same mfgr but different speakers. 1 pair uses SEAS drivers & the other is Eminence (I think).
The Seas speakers took over 50 hours to settle in. Changes during that process were very noticeable & a big surprise to me.
At the time. I had not considered break in as a real "thing".
 
mep said:
2 pairs of different model speakers from the same manufacturer?
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And considering selling one pair & moving upmarket w the same mfgr.

I've had enough speakers to know that there's plenty of brands that I just don't like the "house" sound.
With my equipment in my room listening w my ears to the music I prefer, I know what I like for the price I'm willing to pay.
 
You and I are on opposite sides of the fence on break in, period. No one gets used to the electronics, period. Either you will like it or not. There's been too many components I've given time to break in and either returned or sold because I didn't like or not happy with the sound. This wouldn't happen if if I was able to adjust to the sound.

Many electronics have frequency irregularities right out of the box that go away after some break in time. Speakers need time for the voice coils to loosen up, the bass is unusually tight until this happens, this can be heard, along with smoothing of overall frequency response.

It's absurd to me that anyone would believe we adjust to the sound of a component. If that was true we could buy anything and eventually like it.

Mikado463 said:
perfect......



Was the demo done in the store or your listening room ? If the latter then that explains the amount of time to get used to different bass freq response because of room interaction.
Click to expand...
 
Mr Peabody said:
You and I are on opposite sides of the fence on break in, period.
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Agreed


No one gets used to the electronics, period. Either you will like it or not. There's been too many components I've given time to break in and either returned or sold because I didn't like or not happy with the sound. This wouldn't happen if if I was able to adjust to the sound.
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so why did you buy them in the first place ?

Many electronics have frequency irregularities right out of the box that go away after some break in time.
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easily explained and measurable.......

Speakers need time for the voice coils to loosen up, the bass is unusually tight until this happens, this can be heard, along with smoothing of overall frequency response.
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LOL, explain why some Maggie owners claiming 500 hr 'break-in' nonsense ?

It's absurd to me that anyone would believe we adjust to the sound of a component. If that was true we could buy anything and eventually like it.
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The only thing absurd is denial with respect to the power of psychoacoustics ........... :D
 
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