This is a (gigantic/waddi saari/pretentious/wahiyaat) post mainly about the effects of burn-in (or breaking-in) in audio equipment.
DISCLAIMER & PREMISE: "I do not claim to have classically trained bat-like echo locating ears that pick up on the slightest changes in frequencies, pitch, or supernatural presence. I believe in the power of logic, combined with the human ability of sonic perception. The following is based on some years of noticing the effects of burn-in on various headphones, and most recently a pair of Klipsch RP-280F loudspeakers connected to a Denon AVR-X1200W receiver. As I am pretty much jaahil on the correct technical terms one can use to describe sound effects, I will use my own made-up slang and cross fingers that you get the essence of what I mean. I don't have the best ears in the world. If anything, I have some degree of ear damage all thanks to regular exposure to live music. But having been to live concerts, I have a benchmark to rate this reproduced music against. Finally I have primarily but not exclusively based my impressions on repeated listening of a lossless version of the following song: https://latenighttales.bandcamp.com/track/the-old-mans-back-again
The reason I picked this song was because I wanted to notice the extent subtle sounds and details in a ‘quiet’ song at moderate listening levels i.e. 40dB or 40% volume.
Let me begin by briefly (HA!) explaining burn-in, for those who don't know it. To the best of my knowledge: burn-in is a term regularly associated with the refinement and improvement of audio equipment (headphones, speakers, car audio etc) through usage overtime. Think of your audio hardware similar to aging wood on a guitar; a pair of shoes that become comfortable after some wear; a car-engine that performs better after the initial run-in period; the taste of rice from old-storage(okay, maybe that went too far); but most relevantly an electric coil that loosens up after breaking-in. Just like that last example, legend has it that the mini-and-micro audio components inside your epic headphones/speakers open up and settle down through continued usage over a regular period in time and space. But how long do I have to wait for my audio hardware to burn in? Good question, young one! A good rule of thumb states that the sonic improvements start to become audible after 200+ hours of listening.
However there are some unknown variables in this equation. First and foremost of which is that some people outright discard the idea of burn-in by labeling it as the placebo effect. The logical thing to do is kill these self-proclaimed audiophiles with fire...or just ignore them. Second, burn-in can be very obvious or very subtle based on audio equipment. Sound acoustics are affected by the materials and casings like wooden, plastic, metal etc. In the glorious interwebz forums and communities, some headphones e.g. JVC RX-700 are notorious for jumping on a whole new level of audio quality after burning-in. Third, burn-in won’t do jack if most of the source music you’re listening/pirating is of low quality. Fourth, your source hardware (e.g. Denon receiver in my particular case) plays a big role in how your audio hardware sounds. So don’t expect same sound out of a professional DAC/Amp and your iPhone (duh!). Okay, okay, I admit the third and fourth have little to do with burn-in. But hey, maybe you are slightly wiser after reading that bit.
Let’s (finally!) begin dissection of the burn-in journey of my aforementioned Klipsch RP-280F loudspeakers. At this point, they have easily broken-in 500+ hours (me having no life and all). Important to point out here is I don’t have a dedicated subwoofer set-up. Why? Honestly, because given my room size and dimensions I don’t need one. And maybe because I don’t want my neighbors to call the police on me (just walayat things :/). Maybe also because I can’t legally blow the clothes off the chikni gori next door. Anyways, enough bakwas... Focus Muaaz!
So right off the bat, the most noticeable burn-in difference I perceived was the bass response. Not only is the bass response much more accurate, I believe the lower frequencies are now more distinct, discernable and audible than before, ESPECIALLY on lower volumes when you can feel the slightest thump poking at your chest. But the overall bass response is much smoother, and less rigid than it was in the beginning. The best way I can describe is that each bass note feels like it has a top note, heart and a base note instead of just a peak/drop response. Overall, the bass just has a much larger, unveiled but very accurate presence in the room (similar to Abuses will lead to banalf when he gets angry at hobbits or dwarves).
Second most notable sonic improvement was in terms of imaging/soundstaging. The instruments feel much more distinctly audible than ever before. Even the instruments playing in only small effects are easily audible now (think of the cowbell in “Don’t Fear the Reaper”. Nah, just kidding!) Seriously though, even with my modest 2-channel setup the soundstage feels much wider than it was in the beginning. In my humble opinion, on some songs I can close my eyes and feel for a while like a live performance playing in front of me. BTW, I’m not talking about the ridiculously obvious sound imaging effect on tracks like beginning of Money/Pink Floyd. That imaging is evident even on my fazool in-ear headphones.
Third most audible improvement is what I call the ‘Depth of Field’ effect. Let me try to explain this by relating this to ASMR effect (Google it!). Let me try again by saying that the sound feels like you aren’t hearing it only through your ears; rather your whole head where different sounds are impacting different parts of your head, for example the drums hitting right between the eyes and the clap sound on “Soul Love/David Bowie” hitting you at the edge of each ear. Vocals, especially female sound singing at different pitch and intonation is again very audible. At the same time the sound of an intentionally over-played guitar strum for example in the beginning of “You/Nils Lofgren” oscillates all across your head. In orchestral performances, for example multiple violins playing same notes at the same time have their strong slightly echo-y presence. Again, it feels like the highs are striking your head at the edges, the mids are entirely playing inside your skull, the vocals are right in the center, whereas the lows thumping at your chest and back are tight, and punchy rather than loose and echo-y.
You could argue that I have been deaf to all these sounds and sound effects until now. If that is the case, refer back to the bit about killing with fire. Burn-in effect is not placebo, its real! I have noticed it with multiple headphones that I have owned over the years. Some people say that it’s only applicable to high-end equipment. Personally I disagree but then again, who am I to judge your gear. Personally, I think the single most important quality of headphones/speakers to possess is their ability to make you listen to more music. Fortunately, I am very satisfied with my speakers on this front.
If you have thoroughly read this post without speaking, congratulations and thanks for being tolerant to my views, jazbaat and bakwaas. I am very curious and looking forward to hear your thoughts on the subject.
Signing off,
Happy Listening!
DISCLAIMER & PREMISE: "I do not claim to have classically trained bat-like echo locating ears that pick up on the slightest changes in frequencies, pitch, or supernatural presence. I believe in the power of logic, combined with the human ability of sonic perception. The following is based on some years of noticing the effects of burn-in on various headphones, and most recently a pair of Klipsch RP-280F loudspeakers connected to a Denon AVR-X1200W receiver. As I am pretty much jaahil on the correct technical terms one can use to describe sound effects, I will use my own made-up slang and cross fingers that you get the essence of what I mean. I don't have the best ears in the world. If anything, I have some degree of ear damage all thanks to regular exposure to live music. But having been to live concerts, I have a benchmark to rate this reproduced music against. Finally I have primarily but not exclusively based my impressions on repeated listening of a lossless version of the following song: https://latenighttales.bandcamp.com/track/the-old-mans-back-again
The reason I picked this song was because I wanted to notice the extent subtle sounds and details in a ‘quiet’ song at moderate listening levels i.e. 40dB or 40% volume.
Let me begin by briefly (HA!) explaining burn-in, for those who don't know it. To the best of my knowledge: burn-in is a term regularly associated with the refinement and improvement of audio equipment (headphones, speakers, car audio etc) through usage overtime. Think of your audio hardware similar to aging wood on a guitar; a pair of shoes that become comfortable after some wear; a car-engine that performs better after the initial run-in period; the taste of rice from old-storage(okay, maybe that went too far); but most relevantly an electric coil that loosens up after breaking-in. Just like that last example, legend has it that the mini-and-micro audio components inside your epic headphones/speakers open up and settle down through continued usage over a regular period in time and space. But how long do I have to wait for my audio hardware to burn in? Good question, young one! A good rule of thumb states that the sonic improvements start to become audible after 200+ hours of listening.
However there are some unknown variables in this equation. First and foremost of which is that some people outright discard the idea of burn-in by labeling it as the placebo effect. The logical thing to do is kill these self-proclaimed audiophiles with fire...or just ignore them. Second, burn-in can be very obvious or very subtle based on audio equipment. Sound acoustics are affected by the materials and casings like wooden, plastic, metal etc. In the glorious interwebz forums and communities, some headphones e.g. JVC RX-700 are notorious for jumping on a whole new level of audio quality after burning-in. Third, burn-in won’t do jack if most of the source music you’re listening/pirating is of low quality. Fourth, your source hardware (e.g. Denon receiver in my particular case) plays a big role in how your audio hardware sounds. So don’t expect same sound out of a professional DAC/Amp and your iPhone (duh!). Okay, okay, I admit the third and fourth have little to do with burn-in. But hey, maybe you are slightly wiser after reading that bit.
Let’s (finally!) begin dissection of the burn-in journey of my aforementioned Klipsch RP-280F loudspeakers. At this point, they have easily broken-in 500+ hours (me having no life and all). Important to point out here is I don’t have a dedicated subwoofer set-up. Why? Honestly, because given my room size and dimensions I don’t need one. And maybe because I don’t want my neighbors to call the police on me (just walayat things :/). Maybe also because I can’t legally blow the clothes off the chikni gori next door. Anyways, enough bakwas... Focus Muaaz!
So right off the bat, the most noticeable burn-in difference I perceived was the bass response. Not only is the bass response much more accurate, I believe the lower frequencies are now more distinct, discernable and audible than before, ESPECIALLY on lower volumes when you can feel the slightest thump poking at your chest. But the overall bass response is much smoother, and less rigid than it was in the beginning. The best way I can describe is that each bass note feels like it has a top note, heart and a base note instead of just a peak/drop response. Overall, the bass just has a much larger, unveiled but very accurate presence in the room (similar to Abuses will lead to banalf when he gets angry at hobbits or dwarves).
Second most notable sonic improvement was in terms of imaging/soundstaging. The instruments feel much more distinctly audible than ever before. Even the instruments playing in only small effects are easily audible now (think of the cowbell in “Don’t Fear the Reaper”. Nah, just kidding!) Seriously though, even with my modest 2-channel setup the soundstage feels much wider than it was in the beginning. In my humble opinion, on some songs I can close my eyes and feel for a while like a live performance playing in front of me. BTW, I’m not talking about the ridiculously obvious sound imaging effect on tracks like beginning of Money/Pink Floyd. That imaging is evident even on my fazool in-ear headphones.
Third most audible improvement is what I call the ‘Depth of Field’ effect. Let me try to explain this by relating this to ASMR effect (Google it!). Let me try again by saying that the sound feels like you aren’t hearing it only through your ears; rather your whole head where different sounds are impacting different parts of your head, for example the drums hitting right between the eyes and the clap sound on “Soul Love/David Bowie” hitting you at the edge of each ear. Vocals, especially female sound singing at different pitch and intonation is again very audible. At the same time the sound of an intentionally over-played guitar strum for example in the beginning of “You/Nils Lofgren” oscillates all across your head. In orchestral performances, for example multiple violins playing same notes at the same time have their strong slightly echo-y presence. Again, it feels like the highs are striking your head at the edges, the mids are entirely playing inside your skull, the vocals are right in the center, whereas the lows thumping at your chest and back are tight, and punchy rather than loose and echo-y.
You could argue that I have been deaf to all these sounds and sound effects until now. If that is the case, refer back to the bit about killing with fire. Burn-in effect is not placebo, its real! I have noticed it with multiple headphones that I have owned over the years. Some people say that it’s only applicable to high-end equipment. Personally I disagree but then again, who am I to judge your gear. Personally, I think the single most important quality of headphones/speakers to possess is their ability to make you listen to more music. Fortunately, I am very satisfied with my speakers on this front.
If you have thoroughly read this post without speaking, congratulations and thanks for being tolerant to my views, jazbaat and bakwaas. I am very curious and looking forward to hear your thoughts on the subject.
Signing off,
Happy Listening!
(i was sick and at rest at home and i had nothing to do all day except music movies and dota 
