Cable Burn-In - Myth or Fact?

[Jim Hagerman]

I find OP very daring to come to a facts/ measurements/science based place for promoting snake oil products based on purely biased testimonials without any evidence/facts. And pretending that this place should be opened for discussions.

Why do you assume these testimonials are biased? They are real customers who have actually tried it out. What are you afraid of? Is that not evidence? And yes, I am absolutely pretending this pace should be open to discussion. Or am I wrong about that?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Why do you assume these testimonials are biased? They are real customers who have actually tried it out. What are you afraid of? Is that not evidence? And yes, I am absolutely pretending this p(l)ace should be open to discussion. Or am I wrong about that?

Nope you are not wrong. You are posting in bad faith I believe. And no it is not solid evidence. Earwitness testimony is rather unreliable.

BTW, I've tried such devices out. So since my testimonial is different, does that not count? Was years ago when I believed some such things.

 

[MAB]

Why do you assume these testimonials are biased? They are real customers who have actually tried it out. What are you afraid of? Is that not evidence? And yes, I am absolutely pretending this pace should be open to discussion. Or am I wrong about that?

You purposely misuse the term 'bias'.
Or you are very naïve.

 

[voodooless]

Look, I didn't invent cable burn in. I just jumped on it, decades later, providing something some folks wanted. That's all. And you know what? I can hear it too. The before / after transition is quite apparent. But it seems one of you care about that.

People also claim homeopathy works... So there is that...

I'm a bit surprised, having thought audiophiles wanted to get the most out of their systems, by whatever means.

Audiophiles maybe... we most limit our options to whatever reality dictates.

Why do you assume these testimonials are biased? They are real customers who have actually tried it out.

Let me point to the first sentence of this post...

What are you afraid of? Is that not evidence?

No, it's not evidence, it's a collection of curated nice stories.

And yes, I am absolutely pretending this pace should be open to discussion. Or am I wrong about that?

Then discuss.. all you do is ignore the actual criticisms.

 

[delta76]

Why do you assume these testimonials are biased? They are real customers who have actually tried it out. What are you afraid of? Is that not evidence? And yes, I am absolutely pretending this pace should be open to discussion. Or am I wrong about that?

all testimonials are biased. only when a testimonial matches the evident (which in this case, none), it has values.

 

[vicenzo_del_paris]

Numbers are the only thing that matters?

If your product had a real night and day sound improvement, a simple sweep recording with REW software (free) and mic like UMIK (80$) would back up your claims with evidence.

It is not about numbers. It is about backing claims with tangible data.

And don't tell me that, these days, measurements cannot explain things that our ears are would perceive.
That is too convenient to not provide proofs that you can produce within 5 mins if what you say as true is true.
Also, are you saying that devices used to capture and render the signal, designed and produced by humans are mystic tools?
Are you saying that digital audio or solid state amplifier are kind of voodoo stuff that humans made by mistake without knowing why it works?
Are you saying signal processing relies on sorcellerie (as according you, we can't explain what we hear) ?

 

[Jim Hagerman]

Reply only to what is convenient for you, calmly ignoring the comments on the absurd statements regarding cable burn in.
Come with scientific, tangible evidence about the fanciful claims you make or you will just get torn down on this site.

Sorry, I cannot reply to every comment. Is cable burn-in truly absurd? I am not making any claims, but rather posting what customers have been saying. Don't you see the difference?

I have no measurements or scientific data 'proving' that this works. I did not invent this. All I have are two decades worth of customers who swear by it. If that means nothing to you, then tear away. I thought you might be addicted to fun an learning, but I could be wrong...

 

[SSS]

Wow, a retired keyboarder with probably damaged ears due to keyborad sound wants to tell that cable burn in is real????
He might hear better a tone tune but my critical audio listening when restoring different audio eqipment might recognize fine sound details and differences. So, cable burn in is a myth and nothng else.

 

[voodooless]

If your product had a real night and day sound improvement, a simple sweep recording with REW software (free) and mic like UMIK (80$) would back up your claims with evidence.

Just do a loopback test with an RCA cable, play some music, record it, and diff the files.

 

[Jim Hagerman]

It is not about numbers. It is about backing claims with tangible data.

Sometimes you can hear things that are not easily measured. Like the particular loading resistance that one chooses for an MC cartridge...

 

[vicenzo_del_paris]

Why do you assume these testimonials are biased? They are real customers who have actually tried it out. What are you afraid of? Is that not evidence? And yes, I am absolutely pretending this pace should be open to discussion. Or am I wrong about that?

We are all biased.

With same biological input devices (my ears), same physical environment (same room, no object changed place), same electronic and analog system (electronic, speakers, cables), same music sources (recordings sources and materials, same tracks), my listening experiences can drastically changes (for good or bad) depending on the time of day, my mood, expectations, on sunlight exposure, ....

I trust my ears at a given aging (knowing my current earning abilities and limitations) but I do not trust my brain!

Measurements are facts, not brain interpretations!

 

[SSS]

Sometimes you can hear things that are not easily measured. Like the particular loading resistance that one chooses for an MC cartridge...

Of course it can be measured when one has the knowledge and measuring gear.

 

[Killingbeans]

Numbers are the only thing that matters?

Probability is all that matters.

The probability of cable burn-in not being caused by placebo/brain plasticity is about the same as a pink elephant spontaneously materializing in my bathroom.

Until some groundbreaking new evidence is presented to drastically increase that probability, spending your time on other things is by far the most sensible thing to do.

 

[vicenzo_del_paris]

Sometimes you can hear things that are not easily measured. Like the particular loading resistance that one chooses for an MC cartridge...

You can.

And once again, if it is a night and day difference, so obvious, it must be visible in data collected from a simple sweep capture.
Why don't you want to do it ???

 

[dweeeeb2]

@Jim Hagerman thing is I believe you, I believe it is quite possible, infact inevitable that you can hear the difference. Same for your testimonials. Our brains mislead us - everyone. Until you actually conduct blind tests your statements are just misguided (because at this point nothing confirms your claims) interpretations of a noise.

 

[Killingbeans]

Is that not evidence?

No. Every single snake-oil product on the planet bases its existence on that kind of "evidence".

If I take some pebbles from my driveway and sell them on eBay as "health charms", I'm guaranteed to get tons of this kind of "evidence" from happy customers.

 

[Thomas_A]

Sorry, I cannot reply to every comment. Is cable burn-in truly absurd? I am not making any claims, but rather posting what customers have been saying. Don't you see the difference?

I have no measurements or scientific data 'proving' that this works. I did not invent this. All I have are two decades worth of customers who swear by it. If that means nothing to you, then tear away. I thought you might be addicted to fun an learning, but I could be wrong...

You can just record it, publish it for ABX. Done with it.

 

[TonyJZX]

my thoughts about this topic is summed up here:

listen carefully to the lyrics

 

[Talisman]

Sorry, I cannot reply to every comment. Is cable burn-in truly absurd? I am not making any claims, but rather posting what customers have been saying. Don't you see the difference?

I have no measurements or scientific data 'proving' that this works. I did not invent this. All I have are two decades worth of customers who swear by it. If that means nothing to you, then tear away. I thought you might be addicted to fun an learning, but I could be wrong...

That's right, learning is the key word.
It is a process whereby old beliefs and unproven theories are put to the test until they are refuted or confirmed and possibly explained on a logical and scientific basis, this allows you to LEARN. Try it too.
Are you sure there are audible results? Conduct a statistically significant blind test and prove it.
But you won't, you don't care about the truth, you're just another snake oil salesman randomly throwing out provocative phrases and peddling subjective opinions as if they were absolute truths. You are everything this site fights against.

 

[JiiPee]

Why do you assume these testimonials are biased? They are real customers who have actually tried it out. What are you afraid of? Is that not evidence? And yes, I am absolutely pretending this pace should be open to discussion. Or am I wrong about that?

Bunch of people went to a show were they witnessed a magician sawing a lady in two pieces, and the lady survived that. Would You say that their testimonial constitutes a solid evidence that proves it is possible to saw a woman in half without killing her?

There are lots of ways making our eyes and ears deceive us. The most common one is based on the fact that our perception is easily cheated by our expectations. This is also known as placebo effect and it is successfully utilized by unscrupulous people marketing stuff like high-end audio cables.