There really should be a foundation or something dedicated to educating consumers out of these ancient superstitions. Burn-in probably was warranted in the days of a 1930’s console radio, full of tubes and sub-par capacitors. But the world keeps changing and the old word-of-mouth tips and advice don’t keep up. On the other hand, if you get a newly manufactured 1930’s radio set, by all means burn it in.
2 Likes
A manufacture has nothing to gain by trying to convince their customers that burn-in is a real thing, unless it’s true. If you don’t want to believe in it, that is your choice. But you are doing a huge disservice to almost everyone by perpetuating this lie.
This phenomenon is described more accurately as break-in, not burn-in. Nonetheless, it’s real. Unless you never bought anything new, or any audio equipment at all, in which case, yeah, it does not exist. Sometimes more (longer) sometimes less, but it’s almost always there.
Pointless debate. As there is almost 100% correlation between people who don’t believe in break-in, and people who also think all cables sound the same, all DACs sound the same, and so on. It’s the same folks.
As always, nothing substitutes actual experience. So believe what you want to believe, or just experience (or not) for yourself
6 Likes
Anything with mechanical friction needs a period to get to the optimal performance (break-in, burn-in whatever). The speakers are in that category, and yes, they need some time until they start to sound at their best.
The electrolyte in the capacitors also needs some time in order to bring them in the optimal performance parameters (if that makes a difference in sound or not, that’s a different kind of blasphemy 
)
I always buy second hand equipment so the question is moot.
8 Likes
You might want to run this by Audio Science Review because the people there deal with facts and tests, not myth. I am a skeptic but it does seem that certain components sound better after breaking in, such as my Wyred 4 Sound integrated amp. But breaking in cables is contentious.
I can see break-in for mechanical flexion, as in speaker cones. But it’s kind of odd to think that if a component needs break-in, they don’t do it at the factory. After all, if you buy a wheel of Parmesan Reggiano, you aren’t expected to keep it in a cave for two years before using it.
8 Likes
I should go now and burn-in my new laptop. Maybe my share values in my excel files are getting better after that 
Like with all the audiphile routers and other crazy things, audio could not be the only data that benefits from these substantial tweaks … if they are true.
1 Like
Absolutly true. These folks are called people with a proper scientific education.
2 Likes
If I change my password, how long should I let it burn in?
From my experience burn in (improved performance with a specific time interval) is real for amplifiers, speakers and cables.
1 Like
Burn-in absolutely a thing. It occurs for different components and different listeners in different places. The most common place is in the listener’s auditory cortex.
Do I need my ultra expensive, rare rain forest wood cable raisers burn in? Or in that case let them settle on the new floor for a couple of weeks. When will their magic really shine? Asking for my former 1.500 bucks. Per side.
Hello,
the audiophile often asks the wrong questions. Is there a difference between a and b? Would it be better after a few hundred hours?
What is the difference, better in what way?
How many people are able to clearly identify, for example, that the first harmonic of a bass piano note is missing?
And, if it is detected, what is the cause? The loudspeaker that does not go low enough, the amplifier, the electrical or thermal pollution, the listening room.
There is certainly more to learn to listen better, to implement audio system better than to ask oneself the question of a/b or burn in.
Once the basics are understood, the rest is just a matter of personal taste, usually dictated by our different cultures.
4 Likes
Burn in / buy expensive cables and ethernet conditioner etc.
But once burnt in - please do some rapid ab tests with the old item - if there is no audible difference - send the new purchase back as a waste of money.
The proposed test fails to demonstrate anything regarding burn in, because it conflates 2 or 3 separate concerns by changing cables (and perhaps ethernet conditioner) and burning them in one experiment. If a difference were found, that would suggest that the cable made a difference, would not say whether the difference was affected by burn-in. If no difference were perceived, that might suggest that the new cable is ineffective, but would again say nothing about burn in.
Are you trying to make a point about cables? Or burn in? Or both?
However if you want to perform your test and prove (um, what, exactly?) once and for all, why not just borrow some expensive cables for home audition, from your local hi fi shop? Most manufacturers recommend this as an essential step in choosing a new cable and their dealers will happily loan you a pre-burned in cable.
Of course, to distinguish yourself from those “hi fi audiophiles who don’t test their gear properly”, be sure to make it a double blind test and post your methodology and data along with your conclusions, for peer review.
Personally, I don’t know for sure, since I have not done the a/b test myself, but the arguments made against burn-in (conflated as they are with general iconoclastic sentiment against cables, ethernet conditioners, etc.) seem to amount to “I don’t understand it”. Zero empirical evidence. Zero science.
The arguments for burn in, made so far on this thread, do seem to include a fair bit of personal experience as evidence. You might argue that the experiment was flawed, (although how you would know that is a bit of a mystery, since no-one has published their methodology here,) but flawed evidence is more evidence that any of the anti-burn in crowd have so far offered.
2 Likes
Amplifiers, maybe (for some)
Speakers, yes
Cables, no (just like a cable being directional without purposely made them so using eg. electronics)
There’s one things everyone so easily forgets.
If people are enjoying what they’re doing and which ever way they want to do it, then I hope they continue to do so. Look at the positives : )
2 Likes
Absolutely, if people want to burn their equipment, i have no problem with that 
Without getting into the burn-in debate…
Your statement is simply not true: “The brain simply can’t hold a sonic memory (to compare to for longer than a few seconds)”
I’m a trained musician and yes with training your musical (and sonic) memory can improve significantly .
1 Like