Danny Richie Audio Myths on “Electrical Burn In”

[LDKTA]

I was going to post this video in “Speakers, Headphones, & Room Acoustics” but he goes into other audio myths midway through and towards the end of the video. A “flat earther” that calls others “flat earthers.”

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

lol...wait, is he calling objectivists "flat earth guys?" Because that's sort of exactly the opposite of the way it is!

 

[mansr]

lol...wait, is he calling objectivists "flat earth guys?" Because that's sort of exactly the opposite of the way it is!

What do actual flat earthers use as a pejorative for people they disagree with?

 

[tomtoo]

Whats bad? Does he talk BS?

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Whats bad? Does he talk BS?

yes

 

[tomtoo]

I mean i don't know this person. But for me it makes sense what he talks.

Dynamic speakers change there behavior over time. So, is this wrong?
I dont think so.

 

[tomtoo]

yes

Where he talks BS?
Thats realy interesting.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

I mean i don't know this person. But for me it makes sense what he talks.

Dynamic speakers change there behavior over time. So, is this wrong?
I dont think so.

I could only make it half way through. It's ridiculous. Constant reference to "changes" that are occurring. No mention of audibility. No discussion about why those changes would necessarily be good. It's the usual burn in BS hidden behind a veil of pretend science. The suggestion that people can't adapt to a "typically a little harsher" sound signature is utterly preposterous.

 

[tomtoo]

@Sgt. Ear Ache
No the changes have not to be good.
But nobody could deny that they are real. Could you heare them? Mhh, thats complicated, but at least they are measurable. So we not talk about thinks that are not measureable. How big the impact on our Brain, i dont know?

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

I went and had a look at his measurements on their website. I'm not an expert by any stretch. but it strikes me as a lot of malarkey. There's numbers, but in reading the results it sounds like the vast majority of any changes that are measured are a result of the speaker warming with a few seconds use and then cooling back down to near original numbers again. And comments such as "most speaker manufacturers recommend 40 or 50 hours of burn in" are iffy at best. There is nothing there that offers any proof that burning in speakers will make them sound better at all, and certainly not in the magical ways the burn in advocates claim...

 

[tomtoo]

Let me explain. There is science but science is not only physics. So if we can measure in the physics departmen a change, it's fore shure real. What impact this has on our perception is not physics. I dont know maybe neuroscience or somthing like that.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

speakers obviously change over time. this is called "wearing out." The fact that after running a speaker for a time it's possible to measure some sort of change is meaningless unless that can be shown to be audible and in the case of burn in as it is used n the audiophile community, beneficial. All these measurements and the only real potentially notable change is apparently a 5hz lowering of the -3db point. Now, that sorta sounds like something right? Oh boy, look at that improvement in bass response! Burn in is real! But, if the response prior to burn in at 57 hz was -3.1db and now after 50hrs of burn in its -2.9dbs is that really significant? I doubt it...and that's assuming it's even really a result of burn in

 

[JJB70]

I find it quite telling that he cannot understand that adjusting to a different sound signature is not a claim that our ears or hearing changes.

 

[Daverz]

Guys, there's science* behind this:

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


*In fictional universe. May not apply in your universe.

 

[pozz]

Let's say your woofer suspension is a bit tight. If you play a 200Hz tone for 1 second you just loosened it up with 200 full cycles of vibration. Plenty enough burn-in there.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Oh, and just leave the damn glasses on! lol

It's a funny video. "So I ran some scientific tests and I'm going to put my glasses on now and look down at these papers I'm holding and flip through them a bit and there, see...SCIENCE!"

yeesh...the comments though! "I bought a pair of <speakers> and at first didn't like them but after 100 hours they really opened up and now I love them!"

 

[anmpr1]

How does one keep cables or other gear from 'over burning'? I mean, if you use your gear too much does it overburn? Wouldn't this new effect I've just made up discovered do as much harm as burning-in? Maybe someone really needs to invent a device that keeps your gear from burning-in and consequently overburning. I think that is what is really needed. If someone can design one of these devices, especially if it has some tubes in it, that would be helpful.

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

It would also be interesting to know what sort of manufacturing tolerances might exist for these speakers and whether or not the changes measured from burning them in even fall outside of those parameters...

 

[GradyBeach247]

I believe that 38 years of burn is necessary for my Time Windows to sound like they do.

 

[pozz]

It would also be interesting to know what sort of manufacturing tolerances might exist for these speakers and whether or not the changes measured from burning them in even fall outside of those parameters...

I've seen one or two graphs like that from Neumann before. No one else though.