• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Burning in

pads

Active Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2021
Messages
209
Likes
539
I've never understood this, I get some things needing to warm up to sound their best, tube amps for instance, but wire? Why would interconnects or speaker wire need 100 hours to sound their best? Is this, as I wholly expect, nonsense? It reminds me of direction arrows on interconnects as if the crystallography of the wire would allow better passage of electrons in a certain direction. It makes no sense. Sorry, just siting here listening to music, cruising audio sites and reading some odd comments... my brain is wandering.
 

Wombat

Master Contributor
Joined
Nov 5, 2017
Messages
6,722
Likes
6,459
Location
Australia
If wires are directional then surely they are diodes of a sort and will degrade the ac signal on one polarity.
 

egellings

Major Contributor
Joined
Feb 6, 2020
Messages
4,004
Likes
3,244
I think this has been said before, but by fixing the burn-in time for a component so that it is just a bit longer than the return-the-product expiry date, more sales get made, whether the buyer likes it or not. Maybe fools who believe in such nonsense and their money truly do part, as the trope goes..
 

Gregss

Active Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2021
Messages
160
Likes
208
I think this has been said before, but by fixing the burn-in time for a component so that it is just a bit longer than the return-the-product expiry date, more sales get made, whether the buyer likes it or not. Maybe fools who believe in such nonsense and their money truly do part, as the trope goes..

Hello,

Also, seems real likely that the longer someone puts off returning something, the less likely they become to bother or get around to it. Seems to be a working tactic to maximize profits. Not that any company would do that. :(
 

MakeMineVinyl

Major Contributor
Joined
Jun 5, 2020
Messages
3,558
Likes
5,871
Location
Santa Fe, NM
Why does burn-in always seem to improve the sound, and never make it worse? Hmm...seems to me that the more that the fragile electrons are used in a wire, the more tired they should get, and the sound should get worse.
 

AgentPepsi1

New Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2021
Messages
1
Likes
0
I've never understood this, I get some things needing to warm up to sound their best, tube amps for instance, but wire? Why would interconnects or speaker wire need 100 hours to sound their best? Is this, as I wholly expect, nonsense? It reminds me of direction arrows on interconnects as if the crystallography of the wire would allow better passage of electrons in a certain direction. It makes no sense. Sorry, just siting here listening to music, cruising audio sites and reading some odd comments... my brain is wandering.

I cannot imagine it makes any difference with interconnects, but actually would increase the resistance of the cables. Just like you said, it is nonsense. After all, if you go to a mechanic to change the spark plug wires on your car, he is not going to go the the junkyard to get well used and abused ones, but brand new ones as they have the least resistance.
 

Cuniberti

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 21, 2021
Messages
122
Likes
207
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
I've never understood this, I get some things needing to warm up to sound their best, tube amps for instance, but wire? Why would interconnects or speaker wire need 100 hours to sound their best? Is this, as I wholly expect, nonsense? It reminds me of direction arrows on interconnects as if the crystallography of the wire would allow better passage of electrons in a certain direction. It makes no sense. Sorry, just siting here listening to music, cruising audio sites and reading some odd comments... my brain is wandering.
Burn-in is designed to get you past buyer's remorse and closer to a return date. I'm sure the whole thing was developed in a bar at a HiFi show by snake-oil salesmen.
 

thornclaw

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2021
Messages
24
Likes
13
im pretty sure amps need to burn in. universally people describe the amp sounding lean/ bright/ harsh and then getting warmer/smoother with time. i have experienced this myself. if it was just in peoples heads some people should have experienced the reverse. burn out happens too. i had a 25 yr old proton amp that sounded like a trash can thrown onto the street by the time i sold it. see this post from ps audio.
https://www.psaudio.com/pauls-posts/is-burn-in-real/
 

Wes

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Dec 5, 2019
Messages
3,843
Likes
3,788
I've never understood this, I get some things needing to warm up to sound their best, tube amps for instance, but wire? Why would interconnects or speaker wire need 100 hours to sound their best? Is this, as I wholly expect, nonsense? It reminds me of direction arrows on interconnects as if the crystallography of the wire would allow better passage of electrons in a certain direction. It makes no sense. Sorry, just siting here listening to music, cruising audio sites and reading some odd comments... my brain is wandering.

you will understand it just fine as soon as you learn about neural accommodation, which is what is really going on

this topic has come up so often that I spent several nanoseconds to find this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_accommodation

It's not just single neurons either. All vertebrates would be advised to think of themselves as Edge Detectors, not high res. measuring instruments.
 

MakeMineVinyl

Major Contributor
Joined
Jun 5, 2020
Messages
3,558
Likes
5,871
Location
Santa Fe, NM
im pretty sure amps need to burn in. universally people describe the amp sounding lean/ bright/ harsh and then getting warmer/smoother with time. i have experienced this myself. if it was just in peoples heads some people should have experienced the reverse. burn out happens too. i had a 25 yr old proton amp that sounded like a trash can thrown onto the street by the time i sold it. see this post from ps audio.
https://www.psaudio.com/pauls-posts/is-burn-in-real/
Is there a reliable way to determine the exact 'burn-in optimum' point, or is it a case of by the time you realize the amplifier crossed the 'optimum burn-in' point you are already well on the way down to the 'burn-out' point at which time a new amplifier needs to be acquired to start the whole process again? How is one to know how close to the 'burn-out point' a used amplifier is before purchase? Just thinking about all this gives me migraines. o_O
 

izeek

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2020
Messages
386
Likes
193
Location
maryland
I cannot imagine it makes any difference with interconnects, but actually would increase the resistance of the cables. Just like you said, it is nonsense. After all, if you go to a mechanic to change the spark plug wires on your car, he is not going to go the the junkyard to get well used and abused ones, but brand new ones as they have the least resistance.
You'll think he lost his mind if he charged you a $500 for spark wires for your honda accord though.
 

JSmith

Master Contributor
Joined
Feb 8, 2021
Messages
5,153
Likes
13,211
Location
Algol Perseus
Just so you're aware PS Audio is not viewed overly fondly here, so might be better to find other sources to back your assertion.

So where are the measurements by Paul on that paltry quip on burn in? If it's that noticeable (there are small changes during warm up of components, but most certainly not audible) then where are the measurements showing the huge veil lifting change?



JSmith
 

thornclaw

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2021
Messages
24
Likes
13
this from another forum
capacitor measurement brand new

[AT
1622078088685.jpeg


capacitor measured after 2 days of use
1622078207595.jpeg


maybe this could explain things
 

MakeMineVinyl

Major Contributor
Joined
Jun 5, 2020
Messages
3,558
Likes
5,871
Location
Santa Fe, NM
Top Bottom