Hi Bill, I have often wished that electrical engineers would figure it out and provide answers. My gut feel is that the cable undergoes changes at atomic level with constant flow of electrons until it settles. Its very interesting that the response is consistent. One should therefore never judge power cables under 500 hours as the sound is usually horrible before it settles. The first time I experienced it, I thought something was broken in one of my components. Maybe one day a wise engineer will figure it.
Long cable runs are one application where thereās a benefit. Eliminating ground loops is another.
For a 1m run, with no ground-loop issues, unbalanced interconnects will work just as well as balanced. That said, thereās no compelling reason not to use balanced interconnects. The price difference in negligible and there are cases where they would be beneficial. (Full disclosure: all my interconnects are unbalanced.)
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Can cables remove tinnitus?
If this were true I think it might have been noticed by physicists, metallurgists, electronic experts, computer scientists, and anyone else with a professional interest in electrical equipment, but that doesnāt seem to be the case. To be safe, just in case I might have missed something, I asked my son-in-law - heās just completed a PhD in maths related to lithium-ion battery technology, so should be up-to-speed on the latest re cable settling ā¦ he laughed.
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Yes when inserted into one ear and straight out of the other ear.
Best results are to be had with a gentle back and forth twisting motion.
Ymmvā¦
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If you leave one end plugged in, and stick the other in your ear. That should do it 
Like it! Do expensive one work better and is it directional?
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Please donāt try this at home childrenā¦
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The thicker the better!
Hmm, not considered directional on that applicationā¦
Let me give it a few runs and I will get back to you!
Mmm, indeed. The thing is, modern engineers work in a field of theories and hypotheses. Once someone has come up with those, engineering from them is relatively straightforward.
But coming up with a theory in the first place is an intensely creative process, and it requires feats of imagination many of the people drawn to engineering have trained out of them at an early age. Think of Isaac Newton, watching an apple fall from a tree. What an astonishing turn of mind it took! To imagine that the Earth was drawing the apple to it, or even more astonishing, that the apple was drawing the Earth to itself! The whole concept of gravitational attraction is a mind-boggling display of imagination and fantasy!
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Balanced cables make sense in a lot of situations. Using balanced cables is a far cry from exotic power cables, boutique ethernet cables, and the like.
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While you are there can you check whether they work better after a bit of burn in please?
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Well I can certainly confirm that they do indeed " burn" a fair bit upon initial insertion!
However I do get your concern.
Maybe if I leave them in and put a cd on repeat for a few days that may work?
Or a continuous test tone. That will give the cable a greater range of burn in equally through all frequencies.
What happens if youāve burned in your power cables, and then you unplug them from the wall socket? Does the loss of power cause the cables to revert to their original unsettled state? Do they have to be burned in all over again?
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If you are asking me Bill I was having a bit of banter with Kevin. We werenāt being serious about burn in or inserting cable in your ears.
Sorry for any confusion.
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Not serious?
What??
Really???
Well wth do I do with these darn cables hanging out my ears now then!
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Careful you may start a new fashion.
No, I was thinking there was a business opportunity here. If burn-in is persistent after the cable is disconnected from the mains, thereās a value-add that could be turned into dollars. If not, not so much.
And itās kind of beside the point whether or not you or I believe itās real; thereās plenty willing to lay out cold hard cash for things many others would not believe in.
Glad to know my somewhat barbed humor was appreciated by someone out there. 