Specific Burn in Music?

[Fluffinator]

I've been aquiring a lot of headsets recently and wanted to know what some of the more experienced folks use to burn in their cans. I've been using whitenoise, not really sure if it's been working better or not. That or a random radio station on Spotify, not sure if it matters.

[paprikman]

I've been aquiring a lot of headsets recently and wanted to know what some of the more experienced folks use to burn in their cans. I've been using whitenoise, not really sure if it's been working better or not. That or a random radio station on Spotify, not sure if it matters.

Give up, it doesn't matter at all, especially on high-grade headphones (monitors).

[Fluffinator]

Give up, it doesn't matter at all, especially on high-grade headphones (monitors).

It....actually does though. What headset have you had that hasn't benefited from it? Ever pair I've owned gets better with time while burning them in It's not substantial but it's better.

[MeltingPoint]

Burn-in actually changes the sound signature. At least on my Soundmagic E10. I have countless hours on them then I tried a brand new pair. The difference was very noticeable. On my other IEMs the difference of burn-in wasn't really present.

 

I just use my music library to burn-in and I listen to them while I do it.

[VG Docs]

I've personally just found that regularly using my headphones like I normally do is the best solution. Sure, it sucks that you have to wait for your headphones to reach its full potential, but at least you get to experience music, games, and (for me) Tv shows/movie get better audio quality/clarity as time goes on.

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

I've been aquiring a lot of headsets recently and wanted to know what some of the more experienced folks use to burn in their cans. I've been using whitenoise, not really sure if it's been working better or not. That or a random radio station on Spotify, not sure if it matters.

headphone burn in is 3/4 myth. it's rare that you have headphones that truly respond to burning in. I've had several pairs of headphones over the years, from the $10 to $200 range, and the only parts that needed time when getting new headphones were my ears

speakers and especially subwoofers often change in sound over time as stiff spiders(the part that stabilizes the voice coil's travel, a part absent from headphone speakers due to their flat nature and lower coil movement) soften with use.

there are rare cases where the headphones will have a measurable and discernable difference, but most of the time it's a placebo affect and the percieved "burning in" has nothing to do with the headphones and everything to do with becoming acclimated to how they sound and the aforementioned placebo affect.

 

TL:DR

if you want to burn them in, pink noise is supposedly the best but I think it's horse crap(90% of the time). listen to and love your headphones. we listen to music to enjoy the experience, and that's the best thing you can do to enjoy them.

[Fluffinator]

Burn-in actually changes the sound signature. At least on my Soundmagic E10. I have countless hours on them then I tried a brand new pair. The difference was very noticeable. On my other IEMs the difference of burn-in wasn't really present.

 

I just use my music library to burn-in and I listen to them while I do it.

interesting, thanks.

 

I've personally just found that regularly using my headphones like I normally do is the best solution. Sure, it sucks that you have to wait for your headphones to reach its full potential, but at least you get to experience music, games, and (for me) Tv shows/movie get better as time goes on.

yeah it does suck and yes to the second part!

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

I've been aquiring a lot of headsets recently and wanted to know what some of the more experienced folks use to burn in their cans. I've been using whitenoise, not really sure if it's been working better or not. That or a random radio station on Spotify, not sure if it matters.

in a blind taste test between my month old M50 that I used every day and even "burned in" with white and pink noise, and my bro's brand new m50 I heard no difference. months later he sold his. I still have mine(going on 3 years as my primary headphones) and he misses his dearly.

I figured this was worth adding as I see you have an M50X, which is acoustically the same as the M50 but it has a removable cable(which I modded onto mine)

[VG Docs]

-snipe-

From what I've read, there's some decent science in how burn in actually works. Unfortunately with current technology there's no absolute proof going one way or another with burn in, but in many cases it's definitely a noticeable and genuine occurrence.

 

Here's a decent and reasonable article going over it.

 

I think the most likely case is that most decent headphones have minor or moderate burn in, but combine that with getting used to foreign (to the ear) headphones over a period of time, the overall experience is exaggerated.

[BoredErica]

I don't hear any difference in sound from any headphone or even speaker I've used after I've been using them for a while. It's also harder to hear a difference like that under normal use... Or comparing the sound you now hear versus what you heard 24 hours ago or earlier. There's a reason why testing is done with minimal delay in between a and b. The difference before and after burn-in would have to be quite large for me to notice under normal use.

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

From what I've read, there's some decent science in how burn in actually works. Unfortunately with current technology there's no absolute proof going one way or another with burn in, but in many cases it's definitely a noticeable and genuine occurrence.

 

Here's a decent and reasonable article going over it.

 

I think the most likely case is that most decent headphones have minor or moderate burn in, but combine that with getting used to foreign (to the ear) headphones over a period of time, the overall experience is exaggerated.

that scale showed a difference that was halfway between 0 and 1 decibel, which is to say practically undiscernable. go ahead and listen to a song with a + and - 0.25 db eq in the bass range and tell me you really head the difference, in the worst case scenario.

unfortunately I haven't had the honor of using or owning a Q701, but if that's the worst and it's less than a decibel of measurable change, I'll wager that most headphones don't have an objective difference, and a subjective difference is just another way of saying it's in your head (again, this is applying to most headphones, not the occasional case of a headphone that does benifit from burn in)

I definitely agree, the experience is exaggerated, I just think for most people it's completely farcical and purely exaggeration, unless they're rocking those K1000 earspeakers or something unusual like electrostatics or Planar Magnetics(such as Stax or audeze) or the occasional red herring dynamic driver headphone.

[Fluffinator]

in a blind taste test between my month old M50 that I used every day and even "burned in" with white and pink noise, and my bro's brand new m50 I heard no difference. months later he sold his. I still have mine(going on 3 years as my primary headphones) and he misses his dearly.

I figured this was worth adding as I see you have an M50X, which is acoustically the same as the M50 but it has a removable cable(which I modded onto mine)

I think it may be because they are M50's as they have a pretty flat sound signature, maybe burn in isn't as effective but on other headset's it may have a difference. It doesn't mean the M50's are bad or anything I love my pair, just the nature of what their designed for?

 

I don't hear any difference in sound from any headphone or even speaker I've used after I've been using them for a while. It's also harder to hear a difference like that under normal use... Or comparing the sound you now hear versus what you heard 24 hours ago or earlier. There's a reason why testing is done with minimal delay in between a and b. The difference before and after burn-in would have to be quite large for me to notice under normal use.

Yeah I've never heard a huge difference either, I think your ears just get used to them changing over time? or possibly the change isn't very noticable from start to finish in the first place, but I seem to grow on my headsets and think they sound better. Maybe it's the placebo effect talking but I continue to like to try and burn them in to maybe "loosen them" up a little bit as it doesn't hurt.

[BoredErica]

I think it may be because they are M50's as they have a pretty flat sound signature, maybe burn in isn't as effective but on other headset's it may have a difference. It doesn't mean the M50's are bad or anything I love my pair, just the nature of what their designed for?

 

Yeah I've never heard a huge difference either, I think your ears just get used to them changing over time? or possibly the change isn't very noticable from start to finish in the first place, but I seem to grow on my headsets and think they sound better. Maybe it's the placebo effect talking but I continue to like to try and burn them in to maybe "loosen them" up a little bit as it doesn't hurt.

It doesn't hurt, in that it doesn't really damage a headphone and the electricity it uses is trivial. I see it as a myth but it's a pretty harmless myth relative to the other ideas people have about audio. Our brains can obviously adjust to our headphones and that can change what we hear and what we expect from headphones. The change is likely gradual, if there is burn-in effect that is noticeable, I don't think it'd like, suddenly show up after the 100th hour mark and make a large difference all of a sudden, it would be a small change spread out over time... So under normal use it's hard to tell a difference even if there is one. If burn-in was a notable factor, I expect headphone manufacturers to compensate for that before they ship their product out the door... they wouldn't want their headphones to be given a bad name when in fact it's just the lack of a burn-in.

 

Then of course there's the placebo factor to it. How are we testing burn-in? We struggle to remember sounds exactly as it was reproduced seconds after we've heard it, that's one reason why headphone testing is so annoying. Some guy leaves a headphone overnight or a few nights burning-in, how are they supposed to make a fair comparison? And I'm always acutely aware of how fallible our own brains our, it straight up makes stuff up sometimes, and the more immune somebody thinks they are to it, the bigger the problem it is.

[creatip123]

It....actually does though. What headset have you had that hasn't benefited from it? Ever pair I've owned gets better with time while burning them in It's not substantial but it's better.

 

-TAD300

- AD700

- HE400

- Q701

 

Practically every headphone I own or ever owned don't benefit from burn-ins. 

[creatip123]

Then of course there's the placebo factor to it. How are we testing burn-in? 

 

 

There's that guy with 3D laser modelling tho...

[BoredErica]

-TAD300

- AD700

- HE400

- Q701

 

Practically every headphone I own or ever owned don't benefit from burn-ins. 

BTW, about the earpad thing you mentioned in the PM, maybe he should've called it earpad burn-in. 

 

There's that guy with 3D laser modelling tho...

of wat?

[Fluffinator]

-TAD300

- AD700

- HE400

- Q701

 

Practically every headphone I own or ever owned don't benefit from burn-ins. 

Hmmmm it may be the placebo affect then, I'm probably just getting used to them I suppose.

[Aphexx]

+1 for mostly placebo. even old wives tales have a grain of truth to them and burn in... well.. /shrug I just use them and enjoy them

[creatip123]

 

BTW, about the earpad thing you mentioned in the PM, maybe he should've called it earpad burn-in. 

 

of wat?

 

 

The guy in the video didn't specifically said earpad burn in. That was me thinking, after hearing his explanation. His conclusion was, earpads types, and how it's been worn out can change the acoustic chamber, thus changing the sounds, however big or small. I followed that by thinking, if that's so, then for those that can hear a burn in effect (let's just assume they're right, not placebo), it's more logical to think whatever difference they're hearing is due to the earpads being worn out, instead of the drivers.

 

3D modelling of the drivers' vibration. Fresh vs burned-in. Turned out to be the exact same. 

[BoredErica]

The guy in the video didn't specifically said earpad burn in. That was me thinking, after hearing his explanation. His conclusion was, earpads types, and how it's been worn out can change the acoustic chamber, thus changing the sounds, however big or small. I followed that by thinking, if that's so, then for those that can hear a burn in effect (let's just assume they're right, not placebo), it's more logical to think whatever difference they're hearing is due to the earpads being worn out, instead of the drivers.

 

3D modelling of the drivers' vibration. Fresh vs burned-in. Turned out to be the exact same. 

That's what I'm sayin', he could've just called it 'earpad burn-in'!

[creatip123]

The 'real' burn-ins I experienced (and thus, believe) is capacitor burn-ins. Fresh capacitors sound harsh and sharp. After 3-5 hours, the sounds smooth out. 

[Fluffinator]

The 'real' burn-ins I experienced (and thus, believe) is capacitor burn-ins. Fresh capacitors sound harsh and sharp. After 3-5 hours, the sounds smooth out. 

Capacitor as in the ones inside a DAC/AMP? 

[BoredErica]

In my world, audio is much less complicated. You plug in your headphones to a non-crapola source, and boom, muuusic!

[creatip123]

That's what I'm sayin', he could've just called it 'earpad burn-in'!

 

I did comment on his video, that the case might be:

 

- fresh from factory pads, dry, rough surfaces, no pressures have been applied on => might deviate a bit from 'ideal'

- pads worn for 10+ hours, exposed to humidity, surfaces smooth out due to skin contact, pressurized by wearing => ideal, and remains ideal for hundreds or thousands of hours

- pads 'expired', foam hardens, surface rough as a sandpaper => not ideal, time to change pads

 

He replied that he think the best sound is from fresh from factory pads. Of course both theories are just that, theories. One of us could be right, or both could be wrong, or both could be right (just a matter of preferences)

[Fluffinator]

In my world, audio is much less complicated. You plug in your headphones to a non-crapola source, and boom, muuusic!

Well, it's always nice to try and get the "best" out off your headset, plus I find it very interesting, I can enjoy music out of any headset and it wouldn't matter but why not try and push for something better or see if it's possible.