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Is Headphones Break-in Real? - Study by RTINGS.com
For the impatient:
Killingbeans
Major Contributor
This pretty much puts one of the last nails in my personal coffin for burn/break-in being anything other than a mental component.
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I hate to open the coffin, smells bad, but driver break-in is real, just insignificant the vast majority of the time. For headphones, final testing is probably more than enough to break them in. I decided (like many others) many years ago that the primary purposes of "break-in" were to acclimatize us to the change and get us past the return period. Not necessarily in that order.
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It is worthy of note that while driver break-in is insignificant in headphones, earpad wear can have a major impact on sound. The iconic case of this is the Sennheiser HD600/650, whose sound becomes increasingly veiled due to increasingly recessed treble with pad wear, but substantial effects occur with many models. Granted, this is probably a case where the emphasis is on the "break" in break-in, since this change will usually not be for the better, at least with regard to designer intentions...
solderdude
Grand Contributor
Tyll did a similarish test with similar results. Also with Q701
test1, test 2, test 3, test4
Rtings also tested some other headphones which makes the test more interesting because there is a larger sample size over different brands/types.
I tested this as well with a cheap Superlux HD681EVO.
The reason for that was I modified many HD681 (not EVO) and in 2 of them I found the bass to be lacking while the other ones were bass monsters (no test rig in those days yet so anecdotal and subjective).
These were 15 Euro headphones.
I could directly compare them with other ones which helps.
In one of them you could hear the bass level improving during one song.
The other one had very little bass and may have improved slightly even after blasting it for hours.
So when 2 of them came in for testing (first production run) I set one aside and tested the other.
The other one was put on the rig measured directly and left on the rig.
Blasted with very very loud music (till I could hear it distort on the outside).
After about 8 hours measured it again.
May have warmed up slightly during the day and had quite a lot of power on it.
first measurement, after 8 hours.
Compared it with the other one and sounded the same.
Indeed my opinion is that pads tend to compress more over time/usage which changes the tonal balance.
New pads are generally much stiffer than older ones.
Below HD58X with standard pressure and with the pads compressed a little.
test1, test 2, test 3, test4
Rtings also tested some other headphones which makes the test more interesting because there is a larger sample size over different brands/types.
I tested this as well with a cheap Superlux HD681EVO.
The reason for that was I modified many HD681 (not EVO) and in 2 of them I found the bass to be lacking while the other ones were bass monsters (no test rig in those days yet so anecdotal and subjective).
These were 15 Euro headphones.
I could directly compare them with other ones which helps.
In one of them you could hear the bass level improving during one song.
The other one had very little bass and may have improved slightly even after blasting it for hours.
So when 2 of them came in for testing (first production run) I set one aside and tested the other.
The other one was put on the rig measured directly and left on the rig.
Blasted with very very loud music (till I could hear it distort on the outside).
After about 8 hours measured it again.
May have warmed up slightly during the day and had quite a lot of power on it.
first measurement, after 8 hours.
Compared it with the other one and sounded the same.
Indeed my opinion is that pads tend to compress more over time/usage which changes the tonal balance.
New pads are generally much stiffer than older ones.
Below HD58X with standard pressure and with the pads compressed a little.
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confucius_zero
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Below HD58X with standard pressure and with the pads compressed a little.
Woah! Elevated low end and top end as pads get worn in?!
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I can confirm this. A few years ago I replaced pads on my HD580s that were a dozen, maybe 15 years old. The change totally transformed the sound. It was one of the biggest, most noticeable differences I've ever noticed from an audio hardware change.
Since then I've put an alert in my phone to change the pads every odd year.
As for other "break in," Toole's digression in Sound Reproduction sums it up.
I would like to see that change confirimed on one of those dummy head measurement stands.
solderdude
Grand Contributor
HD650 with old worn pads and with fresh new pads slapped on them.
Old worn pads result in a much darker sound because the driver is closer to the ear.
While wearing an HD6*0 with new pads press the cups (don't push on the grilles nor cover them doing this) and use your own head (dummy or not) to confirm
Below another interesting plot. Same headphone. Same old worn pads and same new pads but with the pads compressed to the same thickness as the worn pads are. Kind of rules out that the pads are different and its only the compression.
When one looks closer to the HD58X plot one can see the treble is less elevated as the part between 100Hz and 1khz. The pads were compressed a tiny bit here to simulate a month of usage or so.
So this one too (logically) also becomes 'darker' over time.
Old worn pads result in a much darker sound because the driver is closer to the ear.
While wearing an HD6*0 with new pads press the cups (don't push on the grilles nor cover them doing this) and use your own head (dummy or not) to confirm
Below another interesting plot. Same headphone. Same old worn pads and same new pads but with the pads compressed to the same thickness as the worn pads are. Kind of rules out that the pads are different and its only the compression.
When one looks closer to the HD58X plot one can see the treble is less elevated as the part between 100Hz and 1khz. The pads were compressed a tiny bit here to simulate a month of usage or so.
So this one too (logically) also becomes 'darker' over time.
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I would like to see that change confirimed on one of those dummy head measurement stands.
Well, if anyone's got some dead HD6x0 pads to send, I have one of those dummy head measurement stands - a Brüel & Kjær 4128C - and an HD600 around at the moment with fresh-ish pads. Failing that, there's always Rin Choi's digression on the topic including new and old pad measurements on his DIY HATS "EURI".
I ran a similar test with/without putting pressure on the pads:
thanks for that link to Rin, I have stated elsewhere in ASR that my HD-650 did break in and the resulting sound, now I know the precise reason. Got to love science and I appreciate you.
solderdude
Grand Contributor
It's not the seal but the proximity. The seal is equally good on my rig (flatbed).
This is what happens with different amount of seal. (note the scale = 2dB/div instead of my usual 5dB/div)
This is what happens with different amount of seal. (note the scale = 2dB/div instead of my usual 5dB/div)
solderdude
Grand Contributor
Is this your K92 ?
- Thread Starter
- #19
The flat bass and jagged midrange tells me it's a Hifiman, so most likely his HE-400i.
solderdude
Grand Contributor
Could very well be. The profile fits my HE400i measurements. Early type, more recent one
The K92 has a wobbly bass and a deeper recession.
The K92 has a wobbly bass and a deeper recession.
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