Burning in Headphones

[Sameer Majid]

Can someone scientifically prove that burning your headphones makes a difference/doesn't break them? I need to prove to someone that burning in is not useless and it doesn't break (finish it's lifespan) them.

[thekeemo]

I honestly dont feel the difference between brand new and 10 year old headphones 

[Sameer Majid]

I honestly dont feel the difference between brand new and 10 year old headphones 

That's what I wanted to know, is burning in just a myth or an EXTREME AUDIOPHILIST thing to do?

[thekeemo]

That's what I wanted to know, is burning in just a myth or an EXTREME AUDIOPHILIST thing to do?

I would say EXTREME very finely tuned ears thing

[Sameer Majid]

I would say EXTREME very finely tuned ears thing

Agreed.

[SSL]

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/measurement-and-audibility-headphone-break

 

It's a pointless thing to do. The audiophile mentality is that break-in ALWAYS improves how a headphone sounds whether that's more bass, smoother treble, or whatever, often to a massive degree.

 

The reality is that there are too many other variables of greater magnitude - headphone positioning, ambient temperature and pressure, pad break-in, listening volume, and normal day-to-day changes in hearing.

[Sameer Majid]

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/measurement-and-audibility-headphone-break

 

It's a pointless thing to do. The audiophile mentality is that break-in ALWAYS improves how a headphone sounds whether that's more bass, smoother treble, or whatever, often to a massive degree.

 

The reality is that there are too many other variables of greater magnitude - headphone positioning, ambient temperature and pressure, pad break-in, listening volume, and normal day-to-day changes in hearing.

Yeah, I rather just have some normal daily use of my Headphones rather than spend 3+ days for a headphone to break in with some very, very, very minor change that only a Audiophile will observe.

[SSL]

Yeah, I rather just have some normal daily use of my Headphones rather than spend 3+ days for a headphone to break in with some very, very, very minor change that only a Audiophile will observe.

 

"Audiophiles" don't observe anything either.

[Sameer Majid]

"Audiophiles" don't observe anything either.

Wow... I hate these kind of myths.

Breaking in headphones might make some difference in some very very very rare cases or for some very very very rare people but I think for average people like me there is no use of breaking in headphones and wasting your time.

[creatip123]

Perhaps, and this is a big perhaps, in the older days, speakers and headphones' membranes were made of more rigid material that needed the breaking in period to function according to the supposed specs. 

 

Assuming that's true, that's where the practice of 'burn-in' came from. I believe later days, along with technological advancements, membranes are made of a more reliable and stable material that are already performing to specs right out of the factories. 

 

Also there was a guy here that said planars are more likely to need burning ins than dynamic drivers. Maybe due to planars' membrane being some sort of plastics, or bigger area. But he also mentioned, this was also in the older days, not the case on newer generations of planars. 

 

Bottom line, I don't believe in burning ins, but of course everybody is free to believe anything....

 

* with capacitors tho, I believe those really need burn ins, but just for a few hours, below 20 hours. This I experienced myself, freshly installed capacitors made my dac/amp sounded like robots. Got better and stable after 10+ hours of operation. 

[ShadowCaptain]

Headphones will naturally "burn in" as you use them, the membranes will loosen up over time

 

You do not need to burn them in as they will do that while you are listening to music over the first few weeks of their life

[creatip123]

Headphones will naturally "burn in" as you use them, the membranes will loosen up over time

 

You do not need to burn them in as they will do that while you are listening to music over the first few weeks of their life

 

Well, assuming that burn ins really do something, like loosen up the membranes, that's the whole reasoning for people doing burn ins. To skip the whole process, where the membranes are supposedly not performing up to original specs, in other words, sounds shitty-er compared to after the membranes loosen up.

 

Let's say the membranes need 30 hours of normal operational time to fully loosen up. If it's used in average 5 hours/day, that would mean 6 days of usage. 'Burning in' is actually playing songs or noises through the headphones nonstop. 30 hours = less than 2 days. So the guy (or girl) is doing the same thing that'd take 6 days to complete, in 1,5 days, with 'burning in'. That's the whole point of 'burn in' process.

 

This is assuming that burn ins really do something.

[ShadowCaptain]

This is assuming that burn ins really do something.

 

yeah well just like when I got my brand new motorbike, I was advised not to rev it too aggressively while it was new, it needed time to bed in and get everything going, I guess headphone membranes are like that, they might take time to settle into their natural pattern

 

but honestly what is a few days of slightly worse audio compared to the 10 years you have your headphones at peak performance

[ShearMe]

Breaking in does slightly alter the FR - there's always wiggle room in a mechanical system. It is still pointless, however, as it will happen naturally just by using them anyways. The bigger difference is letting your ears "learn" the sound and adapt to the subtleties. Human hearing memory is about like a goldfish's, which it is so common for people to claim they hear the difference, especially when mixed with the placebo of wanting to hear a difference. Higher end headphones especially have already had their drivers broken in for testing, as the L/R channels needed to perform similarly, and the overall FR needs to fall within spec range.

yeah well just like when I got my brand new motorbike, I was advised not to rev it too aggressively while it was new, it needed time to bed in and get everything going, I guess headphone membranes are like that, they might take time to settle into their natural pattern

but honestly what is a few days of slightly worse audio compared to the 10 years you have your headphones at peak performance

Driver membranes are flexible plastic, not metal - the internal wear of your engine is permanent, the flexing in a driver is not.

I stress this because some people think that if you "burn in" headphones to a certain type of music, they will forever be set in their ways of playing frequencies common to that genre. This simply is unsubstantiated audiophile garbage.