Headphone burn in TESTED! Is it real?

[@sennheiser]

sick burn-in

[@shmilk]

ol mate senny

[@coslawstudio3001]

🎉

[@ReverendDr.Thomas]

LITERALLY!

[@anthonybertram1168]

Lol

[@cantifirmi4921]

Senny is a dms fangirl

[@SuperReview]

I see the problem: You didn't burn-in the coupler first.

[@DMS3TV]

Ah! That must be it!

[@dgevert]

I like the cut of your jib! I really enjoy your closing song on your reviews.

[@nickpelayo3172]

Are you sure your 4.4mm connector is burned it. Those new plating requires at least 20 hours of pink and 10 hours of white noise

[@hes182]

HAHAHAHAH 🥲

[@interstellar4660]

This video wasn't burnt in enough

[@absenn]

Actually burn in is present on Audeze headphones. Like for example when I first started using LCD-X I got that burning sensation in my neck, but after 100 hours or so passed my neck muscles got used to weight and the burn doesn't ruin the listening experience anymore. So take that DMS!

[@CammyFi]

KEK

[@Lost1ntheSauc3]

Incredible comment

[@kshitijk14]

lol

[@ScarzYourFace]

Burn in is a wild concept. Sometimes I feel like its just a way for the manufacturer to force a user to live with the headphone for at least a few days. You got to let your brain adjust to the new sound signature. I could put a headphone on one day and hate it. Then I go to sleep and wake up the next day and the headphone sounds amazing. My opinions on a headphone can change day to day just based on if I woke up on the right side of the bed or how my mood is.

[@patrickrkruger]

My hearing is way more sensitive in the morning. How about yours?

[@ScarzYourFace]

@@patrickrkruger Yup, almost like ear fatigue happens during the course of the day.

[@anthonybertram1168]

Placebo is a hell of a drug

[@amirzaidi]

@@anthonybertram1168 Nah, I have multiple headphones that I've had for years and sometimes I prefer the sound signature of one over the other. Seems to depend on how fatigued my ears are at that point. If I just woke up, I can handle something very bright, but in the evening I just want strong mids to vibe with.

[@SiG-Popart]

Mental burn in is a real concept.

[@dgevert]

Audiophiles often fail to appreciate just how much our brains impact the sound of our headphones. It's funny watching people in this hobby stubbornly insist that the differences they're hearing have to actually be there, it can't possibly be in their head - for a hobby that's literally ALL about finding audio gear that most effectively fools our brains (the concept of soundstage and imaging, for example - the reality is and always was that we're strapping two small speakers to our ears, so any ability to hear sounds outside of that and localize them anywhere other than to the immediate left and right of our ear is an audio illusion!)

[@hyper_92]

​@@dgevertamazing comment

[@n00kie]

@@hyper_92 fully agree, too!

[@MrKeech666]

Real concept, but medically incorrect. There is no brain burn in, just convincing yourself.

[@052RC]

@@dgevert If this is all fact, you had to get your information from somewhere. Can you reference any type of test or evaluation that was done using real science, to support your claims, done on any piece of audio equipment ever made? I'd like to see the real science for myself. I'm not trying to insult you, but too many people just make stuff up because they think they're right. To be honest, I'm not an electrical engineer, but I do have a masters degree in psychology. "It's funny watching people in this hobby stubbornly insist that the differences they're hearing have to actually be there, it can't possibly be in their head - for a hobby that's literally ALL about finding audio gear that most effectively fools our brains (the concept of soundstage and imaging" For the last 30+ years, or so, I haven't been able to find a single piece of science to back such a statement up. If you don't have anything, that's fine. I'm not interested in having a long argument that goes in circles because someone is trying to win. But if you do have something that's based on real science, I'd love to see it.

[@maxcardif9879]

One thing you'll always notice about when audiophile mystics talk about burn in, the change they admit to is alway, under all circumstances, positive. As in, it just conveniently resolves the peaks and dips at exactly the right places and exactly in the direction that is preferable with their head. Even if burn in genuinely did exist, the chance it would "fix" the issues you had with it is next to zero. Burn in is not sentient.

[@MelchiorumJS]

Yep. It almost sounds like getting used to the new sound by psychological adaptation, which is a very well-known and understood phenomenon. But naaah, it must be the magical "improvement" that happens on the hardware level, while staying completely undetectable through measuremenets - that makes waaay more sense (obviously, I'm being sarcastic). Some of the most ignorant and gullible people I have ever met were audiophiles.

[@MuhammadKharismawan]

Devil's advocate to that is= Not really? How manufacturer tune and design the sound of a gear it's always on a well worn model, there's little reason to tune on an always fresh out of the box sample.

[@elasmojones]

What is this? The audiophile version of gaslighting? Those ice-picky highs you were hearing aren't there or you just got used to them.

[@tednicholson9225]

​@@MuhammadKharismawan please stop posting here. Everytime I see you, you are spouting unsubstantiated claims. This on isn't even relevant to the OPs comment.

[@MuhammadKharismawan]

@tednicholson9225 I don't even comment on DMS channel that often 😅 who the heck are you to kick me out 😗 I've been around since this channel is still named dms3tv

[@richardlaub889]

Burning in headphones or speakers is something that salesmen at HiFi stereo shops claimed would help the speakers sound better in the 1970's. It was pushed because taking speakers back meant they had to give a full refund and could only sell the pair as used. So salesmen came up with, "They just need a little time to burn in and they will be fine." Of course none of it was true. They hoped that if you continued to listen to them, you would just get used to that sound.

[@TheRealPotoroo]

Famed speaker designer Andrew Jones is mates with audiophile Steve Guttenberg and has done several interviews on Steve's Audiophiliac channell (note the spelling). Maybe four years ago Steve asked him about burn-in in loudspeakers. According to Andrew it is real but hugely overstated. In a nutshell, most speaker cones are made from a fibrous material covered in a resin, and there's no way to repeatedly stretch and compress that fibrous material without changing the material's condition over the years. However, when talking about woofers or mid-range sized speakers, the heat generated by the voice coil after only an hour's use can change the speakers acoustic properties by as much as 10dB. Of course, when the speaker cools afterwards it mostly goes back to what it was before but it's never 100%. So, the speaker's properties are far more affected by the change from going cold > warm > cold than anything else. It's a fascinating interview, people should check it out just to hear an actual expert explain what's really happening.

[@oyajixiami3700]

Business is business.If a speaker really need burn-in to reach their optimum condition,then the manufacturer should have done that before they sent to the market.I read a book about loudspeaker design written by a veteran engineer recently,he said the purpose of burn-in is to make customer feel better,since they had paid for it,they surely have the right to do.But imo,buru-in is still valid under certain circumstance,some headphone lovers has proved it,they bought two brand-new heaphone of the same model,then burn-in one of them without listening,after 50 or 60 hours,they let their friends tested it,there is a difference.People shoud not draw conclusion from one specific experiment,that's what I want to say.

[@cunawarit]

My favorite type of burn-in? Cable burn-in, hands down. I take it very seriously, starting with Ethernet cables. These need a minimum of 18,000 hours to truly shine. The best part? It doesn’t even need to be music! I burn in my Ethernet cables with security cameras-yes, security cameras. After about two years of constant use, they’re spot on: perfect soundstage, gloriously warm tones, and pinpoint-accurate sound separation. Absolute perfection. Speaker cables, on the other hand, are a bit more peculiar. The ideal burn-in time is 2,000 hours, but here’s the catch: once you hit 20,000 hours, the cables start to degrade. At that point, you must run the signal backwards for another 20,000 hours to reset them before they’re usable again. It’s a delicate science. USB cables? A breeze compared to Ethernet. Just 600 hours of burn-in will do. And trust me, an unburned USB cable feeding a DAC is unlistenable-so harsh it’s like audio nails on a chalkboard. Then there’s Toslink. For optical cables, it’s a bit unconventional: just 400 hours of direct sunlight does the trick. The effect is similar to 600 hours of USB burn-in. Without this, a fresh Toslink cable isn’t even worth plugging in. And of course, none of this can be measured. This is the beauty of the audiophile hobby, you just have to trust me. It makes a difference and measurements mean nothing. PS: On a serious note, I like your content. Thanks for taking a scientific and pragmatic approach.

[@timid_noob]

Do I have to burn in my wifi and bluetooth adapters too?

[@cunawarit]

@@timid_noob sometimes you have to burn in the air inside a room.

[@maxcardif9879]

BURN IN THE COSMOS. THE UNIVERSE. THE FABRIC OF TIME AND SPACE. BURN IT ALL (in).

[@cunawarit]

@@maxcardif9879 good plan, imagine how amazing Bluetooth could sound then? How do we get started?

[@bakakafka4428]

Audio Snake Oil Law #4: obligatory burn in period = return period + 1 hour

[@Avruthlelbh]

Or at the very least, VERY close to return period, making it difficult at best to return.

[@bbfoto7248]

IF any manufacturer claims that there is a burn-in period required for their product, it should be THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to perform this burn-in procedure BEFORE the items are sold or shipped to the customer! I am spending my money for a product that should work perfectly right out of the box. My time with my family is limited and invaluable, and I'm not going to waste it with any product who's manufacturer claims it needs a burn-in period. It's just that simple.

[@HiFilurar]

Finally some honesty and some actual evidence is presented by a well known youtuber. Brain burn in is real as well as pad wear, everything is nonsense in general but there might be fringe cases where its more noticeble. There's really no reason to discuss those.

[@PassionforSound]

It would be really interesting to see a test that goes beyond frequency response. I wonder if the WAY a driver is moving might have an impact without necessarily changing frequency response. Or, maybe its different between planars and dynamic drivers because I've heard and measured changes in some planar headphones. I cant think of any in dynamic headphones...

[@MFKitten]

I remember Tyll's Q701 burn-in test showing a bigger difference from the temperature changes through the day, than any actual burn-in

[@AhmadGhaziA]

Lol

[@MrDokek]

Maybe the burn in was the friends we made along the way

[@MasterMarslander]

The Omega box is a nice touch.

[@MichaelWeilmeier]

You nailed another hi-fi fallacy!

[@TechLion420]

Burn in is such horseshit. It's you acquiring the taste of the headphones. Thats it.

[@jjaazzee]

Having worked in product marketing I could almost 100% guarantee that burn in was a misunderstood explanation from an engineer, taken by a marketer to write messaging, parroted by other brands and finally somehow turned an industry-wide belief.

[@Sinsanatis]

the whole "get used to the sound" is even harder to argue when some just listen to it once and then start a burn in from start to finish. at that point itd just be a placebo

[@fazzxides8429]

I want to see brain burn-in next, thanks

[@3ildcard]

Nice. Pull a headphone/iems you don't like and listen to them for a week - done.

[@pilzpop]

Can we put this to rest now?

[@miki890098]

There are still people who buy expensive cables for the sound and people arguing about what the best SD card is for sound quality, this will never be put down... But we can just ignore these people I guess

[@dgevert]

No. Subjectivists who believe this sort of thing will never accept any kind of evidence-based argument that conflicts with their subjective experiences. You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.

[@dgevert]

@@miki890098 on head-fi there are people that insist that changing the device language on a DAP changes the sound.

[@akira_rtt]

Loved this test! Can you do it with other audio debates, like DAC and AMP effects on frequency response? It would be great to see measurements on a lot of subjects that audiophiles usually have a subjective bias

[@Mr_Centipede]

6:15 Funny, I think this is what that actually started the burn-in (or break-in) myth, as I actually do noticed some sound difference when my headphones were starting to get comfortable to wear.

[@Elkemper]

So the burn-in effect on FR is negligible. Ok, what about other measurements? Transient, impedance, other more studies, that manufacturers are doing? May be some mechanical characteristics (suspension firmness, change of the resonance point of membrane)? I mean, yeah, what this study is telling us - it's great data point. Is it enough to convince die-hard burn-iners? Not so sure.

[@liamhenderson3958]

They are all products of amplitude response in a minumum phase device like headphones inherently are.

[@liamhenderson3958]

Watch resolves video on what audio quilty is on the headphone show channel. That will explain it better.

[@bobfunk5055]

Guess what those things might affect …. frequency response.

[@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah]

And guess what those things you're yapping on about will affect if they changed, frequency response. The beauty of a minimum phase system

[@reaper117nobody7]

i always assumed burn in is like it is in cars. lots of evidence of people buying super cars and then blowing them up immediately because they do pulls in them. when the parts are just not used to that kind of strain

[@GadZookz]

Thanks for this! Way better than someone proclaiming the sound has changed after not listening to it for several days. If burn in was a real thing they would have burned it in before they shipped it.

[@SomeLittleShoe]

The Modhouse Argon Mk4 comes out early next year. Please get an pre-release pair, and do a review. I'm waiting.

[@anthonybertram1168]

I love this. Thank you for finally providing a conclusion to this “argument” that is basically as objective possible.

[@brannonmcevers1854]

Thank you for confirming what science has been saying for years. People may get upset but I applaud your courage and honesty. 👋👋 Great Video!!

[@ScottGrammer]

Pro audio tech with 47 years experience here. I'm going to let you all in on the grand secret of "burning in" audio gear. You're not burning in the equipment; you're giving yourself time to get used to what the stuff sounds like. You're burning in your own personal hearing apparatus, not the headphones, or speakers, or amplifier, or whatever.

[@green8923]

The pad changes and wear are really important. I got the Sony MDR7506 based on your recommendation, and as acutely aware of the complaints folks had with the headphone (mainly the brightness). I bought the yaxi earpads you recommended swapping in, and while the frequency response shifted in a more pleasing direction at first, it was only after I had physically worn them in (in much less time than "burn in" or mentally getting used to them is expected to take") that their response matched your description of leaning more neutral. I'm a very happy owner of those headphones now, and plan on buying another with the new pads as a replacement whenever these kick the can.

[@el_arte]

I salute you. I have been saying so for a long time, but you brought data to the table. The other reason is the neural network in your skull will actively seek to adapt the output of the driver to what you like to hear. In other words, the burn-in process is an adaptation process that happens in your brain. Manufacturers know this too; after a few beers, they’ll tell you “listen for a while, it’ll grow on you”. Obviously, there are limits to that magic.

[@foxriver9156]

NO!! why you taking my illusions away!? Next you're going to tell me my CD balancer, that eletromagneticly de-noises and repolarizes, only has a minimal improvement. I won't have it! Just kidding obviously, really appreciate the rigor you tested this with, and I am actually relieved with the result. I hated thinking I might need to burn-in my new headphones before being able to fully appreciate them.

[@admiralnorman]

Hopefully with this video /r/headphones will like you now. Next do "cables don't matter" and they'll make you a mod.

[@iisakei2369]

The reason why I think burn-in is incorrect is that although there are people who say burn-in improves the sound, I rarely hear of anyone who says it makes the sound worse.

[@CammyFi]

Expectation bias at it's finest

[@3ildcard]

@@CammyFi Based

[@degru4130]

I've experienced Audeze drivers stretching and developing crinkle over time... I suppose that could be a sort of bad burn-in? Incidentally, the LCD-2 I own which does this appears to have elevated distortion in the midrange compared to examples I see online. But I can't make any firm conclusions since I got it used and don't know what it was like new.

[@SianaGearz]

I'm sure the sound of the headphones changes after the first few hours of using them. 1. You just get used to the signature, and things that stood out, become easier to ignore, and things that were masked, you learn to discern more. 2. The pads become slightly compressed and start conforming to your head a little differently, they might reach their design shape. 3. A little bit of human slime penetrates into the cover cloth and provides a little bit of acoustic impedance, damping the peaks. I wonder whether effects 2 and 3 are significant and to what extent, could one rank them? By the way maybe impedance curve should be measured as well? It doesn't really make sense for headphones not having any crossover. On speaker drivers, this is actually a thing, and is the reason every speaker designer will burn in the driver playing a low frequency for just a couple hours to break it in, the changes are actually quite quick by the time the driver has stabilised into its long term behaviour. Interestingly, while TSP changes are numerically significant and quite consistently present, it doesn't actually result in a substantially different optimal tuning or a substantial ultimate response difference, like, you also have temperature to contend with which change the crossover tuning much more substantially, but still generally not audibly. But it's just done as a matter of good diligence. If the speakers are individually pair matched, they should also be burned in prior, else you're just doing something that takes effort and you don't want to make the system worse by doing that even if by a tiny amount, but in my opinion pair matching is a fairly unnecessary luxury, like you use vaguely quality parts, things come out fine and you just don't need to worry about it.

[@xzygy]

If burn in made a significnt difference, the driver manufacturer would do it themselves at the factory.

[@daphanatic9755]

Some do.

[@3ildcard]

I mean, there are people who did the math on how many times a DD moves in just few seconds. If that's not enough for a "burn-in", i don't know what is. Even if it was real, it happens so fast the most wouldn't even realize. The few companies that recommend that is A) to appeal to the placebo driven idiots and B) 4:45 they just want people to let their ears get used to the sound. If you're coming from some hardcore V-shape, very exciting bass and treble and switch to something neutral, you're very likely to "hate it" out of the box because it's boring.

[@jtor9538]

I always thought that I had to replace my ears since I could never personally hear the difference after burning in headphones. Now I know why. It’s refreshing to see someone create a video addressing this topic-thank you!

[@matthewweflen]

Love debunking videos! Nice methodology. Now do amps and DACs! Show us the same headphone at the same volume on two different amps and/or DACs! Show us whether "headroom" and "extra power" matter worth a darn!

[@gandralf]

Burn-in, 600+ USB cables, network filters, … this community is so unreliable! Thank you for bringing some sanity here

[@samulhardif8331]

BRING IN THE CABLE BURNER

[@MelchiorumJS]

Sound comparisons between different digital cables is one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen in any community. Almost as hilarious as "demagnetizing" CDs or painting their rims black to "improve" the sound. People don't understand (or don't want to) how digital audio works, and they just choose to believe whatever makes them feel better. "But I hear the difference" is the same kind of argument as "but horoscope works for me". Yes, it does, because you want it to and so you fool yourself into believing it does. Literally a religion.

[@cunawarit]

@@samulhardif8331 I would not be surprised to see such a product, and we know that we will be told that the $20k cable burner is better than the $2000 too.

[@varunnarain50]

@@samulhardif8331 Oh god that Nordost cable burning machine actually exists which just makes me sad. I suppose making money from the stupid and ill-informed is big business.

[@3ildcard]

Add Dacs/amps to the list. This "hobby" is not about people who love music but placebo driven consumerists. JDS Labs explained it very well about how dac amps chips are designed to sound the same while brands like Topping is trying their best to fool people and convince them how the more expensive one is better or the other one is warmer and whatnot. Hence why JDS only offer 1 dac/amp instead of entire line in 10 price ranges. One of the very few companies with morals, an actual hobbyist.

[@John-wv9iw]

I like my drivers medium rare thank you.

[@thoroughattention]

Hmm, very interesting, great video (again!). My personal, subjective experience is, however, that it heavily depends on the device if burn changes anything or not. I own half a dozen of headphones from various brands, and with different price points, and I have listened to many others of the last two decades or so. The sound of almost all of them was the same on day 1 as on day 200. There is one exception, though, which is my beloved AKG K701. This headphone sounded great at the dealer, so that I bought it. Boy, was I disappointed when I had unboxed my own K701! The same music from the same sources sounded harsh, unbalanced and kind of weird. Totally different than in the shop. After about 40 hours things started to get better, and stabilised after about 120 hours. The sound I get from this headphone didn't change ever since, but during the first 120 hours of listening the sound changed remarkably. The K701 was, is and will be a relatively bright sounding, analytical headphone, but the intital harshness is completely gone, and I doubt that it was more me getting used to the K701 sound signature than the headphone going through some sort of transition known as burn in, although I acknowledge that psychology and getting used to a sound might play a role here. But given my positive impressions from trying a bunch of headphones at the dealer including the K701, and the totally different impressions I got from my brand new sample at home, and the fact that I did not experience anthing like that with any other headphone makes me think, that the effect of burn in may depend on the construction of the headphone to a degree.

[@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah]

Did you just skim the video?

[@boonie3]

Maybe the fools on headfi can now stop talking about burning in headphones for hundreds of hours, or setting headphones and IEMs aside in their "burn in rig"

[@jameskegen6812]

No they say this teat is invalid because they think waterfall plots tell information you can read in the FR in a minumum phase system.

[@ii_r_ftw]

And the most daring argument against burn in I can make is. "If it happens why doesn't the factory do it so the consumer gets the product at it's best?"

[@garfythecat]

This is great! I was always skeptical about the claims manufacturers and KZbinrs made about burn-in so it's good to see actual real results.

[@ArrivingElsewhere]

That IWC is so pretty, stunning green.

[@BoomerPlusUltra]

I’ve heard burn in one time - some car speakers I had installed literally hurt my ears with their harsh treble. After a while, the trebles leveled out. Never noticed burn in with any other product.

[@Flame-Cat]

Yup, I can admit that I believed to "perceive a distinct difference" between a burned-in and a non-burned-in unit at one point. After making a fool out of myself, saying that I heard a "clear difference" between two senny units. I afterward made a blind test with all factors more or less eliminated, except my pure listening impressions of the two headphones. After listening to one of the pairs in random order with a blindfold and guessing which pairs I was listening to was, (with a sample size of 20 guesses) the results were pretty random, and that's where I realized that placebo is a great factor as to why one *actually* perceives a difference, despite there being none. Because after the fact, the difference I previously heard was no longer there. It all comes down to your experience with a product, the expectations, and even your subconscious knowledge of seeing graphs that can vary depending on the measurement gear. These factors can build up to an expectation of a sound, rather than the sound itself.

[@Eddricc]

Thanks for this and your concise video, that's a lot of work and you did not overextended, just 7 min and a half which is nice.

[@liveliferock]

Thank you for busting the myth... for many this is a hard pill to swallow.

[@AsreiMurasame]

Actually I loved this video. I had theorized for a while that if burn in changed things on the headphones that it was probably pad wear, since the distance to your ears and things of the sort will change with pad wear.

[@geminijinxies7258]

When it comes to headphones and speakers I think it's called break-in. Since it involves moving parts. Only cables and other electrical components have burn in. Anyways. I'm quite surprised it didn't change the frequency response more than it did. On speakers the changes are pretty big and GR-Research did a test to confirm that.

[@gdemirjian]

With dynamic driver home speakers, the driver spider does break in, and it is more noticeable. I haven't noticed this with headphone dynamic drivers but have noticed a significant difference with the sound of some planar headphone drivers after a fair amount of play time. The change is usually with image separation and bass control. I've observed this multiple times with Hifiman and DCA planar drivers. Love your videos. Thanks!

[@Mishael_Agyei-Boamah]

Please be serious

[@CosmicPotato]

Looking forward to the pad wear video. I used the pads my HD6xx came with for years and then finally decided to replace the pads. It's crazy how much of difference new vs worn pads can be. Way more of a difference than "burn in" lol

[@Nikolajchris]

Peerless, Ole Wolff and B&K all from DK - makes me proud to be an audio engineer from there

[@3ildcard]

Very few companies mention "burn-in" at least in Chi-Fi IEM's. In anything, i've only seen it on couple of Penon sets (IEM's) and mostly applies to DD's. The only people who believe in that are the ones who think dacs/amps (except tube/r2r) sound different and cables alter the sound too - im with JDS Labs on that topic, match them and they all sound the same on the same track with the same head/earphones. I'd stick with the folks who did the math of how many times the driver moves just to produce 20k hz let alone play a whole song or god forbid 100h of playtime. 4:50 pretty much sums up how most of us feel about that. The only "burn-in" i believe in is brain burn-in aka getting used to the tuning as you said. Even if driver burn-in was a thing, it happens during the first few seconds of use anything past that is you trying to justify your purchase somehow.

[@mathurm100]

one of the benefits for the company is to weed out infant mortality. might be interesting to play some kind of instrument playing a single note with fast attack or certain detail (violin, snare drum etc...) and measure the full spectrum response for that note instead of a frequency sweep. my thought would be that while the frequency produced by the driver doesn't change maybe something about the ability to reproduce a specific spectrum at once might change - more flexible driver after moving may be able to more quickly produce a complex standing wave or something like that. haven't fully thought it through.

[@networkn]

I have 18 pairs of headphones across in ear, true wireless, wired gaming, wireless gaming, wired 'audiophile' and others. Across ALL of those, bar one, I have never noticed any benefit to burn in. However, when I got my brand new HD800S, and plugged them in, initially, I was sure that there was a fault with them. I am not joking when I say they sounded absolutely terrible. I was unfortunately called to attend a family emergency, and left immeditely with the headphones still playing music. When I got back 3 hours later (thankfully nothing serious happened), the headphones sounded as they should. I have since, noticed no difference with them. I to this day believe, the membranes for the drivers (not sure if thats the right term), were stiff initially, and over the course of that 3 hours, be it 5 minutes or 2:59, they loosened to their normal amount of movement and then they sounded as they should. It's the only pair I've ever tried where that was the case. Having said that, burning in for 100 hours or so, isn't a big deal either way. I typically only listen for 10 hours a week at most these days, and for the first few days, I just leave them on my desk when I am not there, playing music.

[@timothyfreeseha4056]

I really have come to the conclusion that burn in is really just getting used to, maybe even appreciating or disliking the sound profile of any given headphone. The only headphone I have that I found strange to begin with and strange forever and ever afterwards is the Meze 99 classic.

[@jekken333]

Cable guys: now change the cables to silver. Lmao

[@CLaudiusClemensJimmy]

like we all know, not just only headphones, it apply to pasive hardwarde, like electronics etc, they said let the capasitors " had enough juice " to make then shine to the highest levels. for me they sound like brain burn in or placebo effect. unlike the cables materials that can make a very noticeable difference. thanks for your experiment, God Bless

[@cyphre]

Lot of the conversation regarding burn-in is always about a specific driver. I get using something you can control, but obviously not all drivers are built the same way.

[@DrStorm-pm6oj]

Actually end-user burn in is not valuable most of the time cause drivers are already burned in by manufacturers during testing and tuning process, that means you are right at the point of companies which recommend burning just want to decrease returns, but that's not mean that burning in is a snake oil, actually it is a must done process for any mechanical or movable parts to assure the right movement without conflicts.

[@newellslab]

Gotta love how audio companies suggust 100 hours so the listener gets use to the sound and doesn't wanna return them lol

[@znoozaros]

I had mdr-m1 for 2 weeks before I was finally able to return them. I placed them and took them out of their packaging 5 times in total. I liked the sound so much but they were uncomfortable after like 30 minutes because of the small cups

[@k1awdttt]

Someone said this that made sense to me: "When we burn in the headphone, it's not to change how the heasphone sounds, instead, it's to make our brains adapt to how it sounds."

[@TonkyTronicus]

My assumption has always been that "burn-in" is requested by companies more for reviewers to not do what Crin does and judge a headphone after 15 minutes of use (recall Crin's famous spoiled milk example). As you pointed out, you can sort of get used to most sound signatures after a while of listening to them and so a reviewer would be more likely to eventually come around to and favorably review more headphones after giving them more listening time. Reviewers who believe in burn-in I always just assumed stopped listening to the music that was giving them issues after the first few days and found some other tracks that sound more correct and attribute that to the drivers changing without realizing it. However, I can already foresee the responses to this "well you can't measure soundstage/detail etc on a graph so this proves nothing..." and the debate rages on.

[@Roof_Pizza]

A 6-inch driver on a loudspeaker, sure, A 30 mm driver on a headphone, nah.

[@chrisharris1522]

A better test would be, sponsored content saying you should burn in vs non-sponsored content saying you should not

[@CraigArnolduk]

The burn-in happens in your brain. After 100 hours people become accustomed to the sound, so returns go way down if people wait until after the burn-in period.

[@Akaite79]

Very interesting. I bet that you could get this published. You'd probably need a larger sample size to get sufficient statistical power and calculate the total variance and use that as a dependent variable in an analysis of variance, but I'm sure there are people out there like (Sean Olive or Durand Begault) who could advise you on that.

[@052RC]

In order for it to be considered science, you have to follow the scientific method. In this case, its not even close. The first step is you need to have some type of observation that can't be explained with what we already know. We don't have that. Having an owners manual telling you 100 hours burn in is recommended, is not an observation. Without that, you can't have a test, and there's nothing to publish. That said, I'd love to see someone do a real test, but in this case, is it necessary? I say no. Regardless of what your position is, the issue resolves itself automatically. Its only 100 hours, and most return policies are a minimum of 2 weeks, so you'll still have plenty of time to return the product either way. After the 100 hours, it makes no difference. If you are going to take the time to test something, I would rather invest the time and money testing for something that remains constant, not something that goes away after a short period of time.

[@Jortio]

I cannot speak for all headphones, but as hours passed, it sure made a massive difference to my HD600 Senns. I have 2 sets and the original sounds very veiled by now, even with new pads. Everyone who compares them now hears the huge difference. The original ones lost their top end and sound sloppy now. So yes, it sure can make a difference. But will it be better or worse? This is where subjectivity and assumption kick in.

[@TheBeastly1113]

I spy a CW Sealander! Nice watch. It’s so funny seeing how many hobbies overlap in the nerd space lol

[@Saammiam]

I didn't realise people felt the frequencies changed volume with burn-in. I thought it was more of a slew-rate thing, at least that's how it is in guitar amp world. Either way it's probably just money isn't it.

[@052RC]

If you want a real answer, then you really need to ask a manufacturer that recommends the product will sound different after a certain amount of use. And the vast majority of them do. For myself, I never understood why people make such a big deal over it. In the end, it means absolutely nothing. After 100 hours of use, the issue is resolved. Its only a few days of continuous use, so if you have a return policy, and most are for 2 to 4 weeks, you still have plenty of time to return the product if you don't like it.

[@En_Joshi-Godrez]

@052RC ah so you're just a consumerist d3gn. Got it

[@CraZher]

I went a little further and I already burned my ears

[@virgogreg]

Thank you for the myth-busting Burn-in i now know lol

[@ohhjak]

I found someone burn-in cable.

[@antonlytvynenko]

Gg man, appreciate the work. Always cool to see experiments like this

[@jamesdonaghy6758]

Thank You Sir, much appreciated and kind regards 😇

[@h0ll0wm9n]

Brain burn in (psych burn in) issues aside, based purely on PHYSICAL criteria, an electrical coupler (with associated wires, electronics, and software) is NOT a human ear-brain system. And then there is the 'TIME" issue.

[@Quantowski]

The real burn in were friends we met along the way

[@lightjoybliss]

i want to see, how well does EQing an IEM with a target signature, actually match the target signature? Say, make Chu 2 sound like Elyssian Annihalator. Does it actually?

[@kshitijk14]

haha love it, cool burn-in tho, i genuinely feel burn-in is just burning in our ears more than headphones honestly, so more like if someone says burn-in makes your shit sound better, I be just end up laughing at them, there ears are just not used to it now, and later on if you "burn in enough" even the shittier is gonna sound prettier......hot take

[@Killername969]

Thanks for research! I knew this is a bulls**t!

[@rawrj]

Next up tackle cable differences! Particularly with IEMs.

[@kenabi]

my understanding of burn in, is entirely down to the cone/spider/etc materials (and not the voice coil/coils). some need it, some don't (way less these days). some how this carried over through the years to mean all drivers, regardless. most of the plastics used in 40-50mm headphone drivers is the same type, and thickness, on average. it's going to move the same way from start to nearly the fail point. most modern materials don't need it. older materials (way back) _did_ need it. however, we're at a point its irrelevant for the vast majority of people.

[@devondorr8212]

Don't know about headphones but my ears definitely have burn in

[@DJ_PROMO_PR]

I hear the sweet sounds of feathers being rustled. 😂

[@periurban]

I always knew it was bollocks. Now everyone else does too. Cool!

[@PetetheSweety]

Burn in does make sense on speaker drivers with fabric components, like fabric surrounds and/or spiders. Especially when just one driver of a pair got changed or reconed. The TSP changes are measurable. But on PP / plastic membranes incl. surround and balanced armatures... no way... Just a waste of time.

[@tam8197]

100 hours ? YOU are the item that is being burned in 🤣

[@NanoDex]

Nice Christopher Ward

[@DragonOilSound]

awesome video 👍👍👍in addition to my wallet being burned. my phone, keyboard, mouse, computer fan, usb, hdmi, eyeglasses, shoes lace all needs to be burn in as well. dont forget the tidal mqa that needs 1000 hour of burning in

[@lowrider007007]

Brain burn-in is is real!! The longer it is recommended to burn-in the more chance is you'll get used to the sound and keep the product!

[@griper00]

why is the treble on the burn in different? red and blue line ? but then on the green its the same ?

[@lazarusgodfrey7079]

I was waiting for "peace" at the end and it never came

[@weevilsnitz]

I'll take a 5-10db drop from 15k up, that will certainly help with fatigue.

[@Labellabel666]

Next experiment, please add a control group - in this case, you should have taken one of the drivers and test and retested it without the 110 hours of breaking it.

[@celstark]

Why? The point is that the pre- post- on the same exact driver showed no change. Done 3x. Do you think the drivers all changed in the same way and the mic changed in the exact opposite to negate the effect?

[@LucaTheStar]

Extremely off-topic comment telling you how gorgeous that green Christopher Ward is.

[@erikkuchen]

I watched the abyss video where everyone believed in burn in and cable break in....