Breaking In Headphones: Woo or Reality

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Abbey Road, Nov 28, 2014.

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  1. Abbey Road

    Abbey Road Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    I was under the impression the breaking-in headphones was more woo than reality. Have there ever been any peer-reviewed tests to illustrate the effects of breaking in headphones empirically?
     
  2. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
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  3. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    I've found some do and some don't. I've never experienced break-in with Sennheisers, for example. On the other hand, I've had Sonys change quite a bit. Probably depends on construction and materials. I imagine the AKGs Tyll tested are made with top materials, so I wouldn't expect as much "give" with them as some other phones.
     
  4. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    I recently purchased a pair of Nuforce HP 800 over ear headphones new and yes, they changed significantly after about 24 hours of being played constantly. On the other hand, a new pair of Sennheiser HD650s seemd the same after a full day of break in. The Senns are wonderful BTW.
     
  5. Abbey Road

    Abbey Road Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Just curious, were these changes subjective or empirical?
     
  6. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    I know with Senns I've tried deliberate break ins of a couple days and heard no difference. I've also purchased a new pair of HD650s and compared them to a friends seven year old pair and the sound was virtually the same. I had some Sonys I put through the same process (three days of moderate volume, fed continuously) and listened to them again and noted a vastly fleshed-out bass response. I didn't measure anything, but the Sonys changed so dramatically I didn't believe that kind of break in change was possible. (I like bass and they went from barely passable to almost too bassy). I did not listen to them during the break in. Maybe an hour of intitial listening, then hooking them up for three days and coming back to them. That test really surprised me and made me a believer that some phones do change with break in.
     
  7. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    Just my ears. Don't think I went in biased either way but...
     
  8. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    Break-in as a controversy or dilemma cracks me up. What's the alternative to whatever happens, good or bad or nothing at all, as the hours add up?

    The only practical benefit would be to warn people that what they hear straight out of the box will change, but IMO there's no reasonable way to discern the difference between component break-in and ear/brain break-in.

    The other thing that's comical and logic-defeating about break-in is that no one EVER argues that break-in makes things sound worse. It always "opens up" or some such lovely thing.
     
  9. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    The change with the Nuforce seemed obvious. Just my ears of course. Don't think I went in with any bias but...
     
  10. Nate

    Nate Forum Resident

    My wife, a distinctly non-audiophile sort of person, truly disliked her Grado SR80e's initially. Within a week she said they sounded very good. She insists it was the headphones that changed.

    Anecdotal, certainly, but informative none the less
     
  11. Abbey Road

    Abbey Road Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Unfortunately, the human brain is wired in such a way to make it impossible to remove personal bias. That's why we have a scientific method, to mitigate bias as much as possible, but even the scientific method can't eliminate it completely. But I'll definitely take your anecdotal testimony for what it's worth.
     
  12. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    All I said was the sound changed. I added no value qualifier...So we can strike your "always."
     
  13. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    Agree completely.

    This is why I said I didn't think I was biased. Of course, whether one is biased or not doesn't always negate the perceived outcome.
     
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  14. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    EDIT: The other thing that's comical and logic-defeating about break-in is that no one, except for timind (who remains scrupulously neutral about the qualitative nature of the change), EVER argues that break-in makes things sound worse. It virtually always "opens up" or some such lovely thing — although timind withholds both praise and criticism.
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2014
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  15. Benefactor

    Benefactor Forum Resident

    The headphone break-in always seems a lot more audibly apparent when I run a green (absolutely must be green) sharpie marker around whatever music source I'm listening to...
     
  16. Gary

    Gary Nauga Gort! Staff

    Location:
    Toronto
    How can break in sound worse?

    I've owned interconnects that I could not listen to anymore as they still made the music sound crappy. They were beautiful, though. Never saw anything look as nice. I returned them for a refund.

    I don't recall them getting worse over the week that I owned them though.
     
  17. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    Much better.
     
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  18. Black Widow

    Black Widow Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States

    LMAO! "Break in" = the amount of time it takes an OCD-prone audiophile to quell his anxiety/fear of coming down with a bout of buyer's remorse. :agree:
     
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  19. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    The question I have is; who would pay for such a test?
     
  20. Ephi82

    Ephi82 Still have two ears working

    Location:
    S FL
    Speakers certainly change after anf initial period of use. I've heard it in headphones, bookshelf and floor standing. Speakers loaded in a guitar cabinet definitely change character after a number of hours initial use.
     
  21. kevinsinnott

    kevinsinnott Forum Coffeeologist

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    It seems reasonable to think a device with physical drivers would experience a so-called "burn-in". Frankly, I don't know how one would separate a product's burn-in from the end user's growing awareness of the product's sound. It's always been in back of my mind as I read reviews where burn-in was cited.
     
  22. ROLO46

    ROLO46 Forum Resident

    Cans are 'working' from day one
    The transducer moves like a microphone diaphragm at all times when driven or not
    Its Woo.
     
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  23. Gary

    Gary Nauga Gort! Staff

    Location:
    Toronto
    You never buy anything that has a return policy? Most items have at least something in that regards and even a "trade up" policy. I doubt that there are any audiophiles who would buy something that costs big bucks without either auditioning it very thoroughly or having a days or weeks long demo at their own home.

    Your "OCD-prone audiophile" remark makes no sense to me. Is this simply your own opinion?

    I've bought and returned a few audio related products in my time. Sometimes I lose the shipping costs but I get the principle back. When I bought locally, I never paid any "restocking fees" either come to think of it.

    Try it sometime. :)
     
  24. Gary

    Gary Nauga Gort! Staff

    Location:
    Toronto
    Easy. Don't listen to the component, list leave it paying music for 24, 48 or longer hours. Then judge the quality of sound. Is it the same? Is it better? Is it worse? How does it fit in with the rest of your system? Then make a final decision - is the change worth it?
     
  25. Gary

    Gary Nauga Gort! Staff

    Location:
    Toronto
    But it does not really matter if the sound changes or not if you initially use the headphones the way I suggested in post 24.
     
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