If cables can break-in, can they then wear-out?

There's something in the air....

But it does seems to me there is something to the break in aspect for cables, as with about anything else in audio.

It’s easy enough to find out if there is in fact any erstwhile changes by way of run in... Listen immediately upon integration of the ???, then just let the ??? play for 100 hours... (some will say just leaving it plugged in and energized is sufficient but I've my doubts about that), and then listen again at the intended mark.

your ears sure won't have time to 'adjust' or 'attune' to any changes that way... only the ??? and your memory will have had time to change.

Personally, I don't tell my other cables who is the eldest nor do I celebrate their birthdays... or watch a calendar with their anniversaries in mind.

I'll keep wires until I am either ready to try something else, or can afford to do so... or if I break one... that's only happend once with some Monster M1000 cables... the connector split and then just busted right off. I’m likewise with components’

Oxidation does change things too, impeding current flow. If you've ever cleaned off the oxidation at the terminations and applied some contact enhancement solution, you'll note the diffs. That same thing is going on inside the cables... just at a much slower rate, as they are more protected from direct exposure to the elements which cause it.

This process takes way more time than six months. Or a year. think 'years' in fact., and it requires some exposure to the air itself.

Think NOS Vacuum tubes. Right? There’s no air in there. Just on the exposed pins.

Folks who continually buy and replace their cabling likely do the same thing with other pieces of gear too. it's not the components or the cabling that's wearing out there, it's the people themselves having worn out their fascination with those pieces. I feel it's more about change for those sorts than it is the music itself... sometimes.

Add to it makers continue to offer newer editions of the same item or its complete replacement which introduces some doubt or desire to said consumer and Violin! Free enterprise thrives!

I guess too it is where ever and how ever you find your happiness. Finding it with what you have, or believeing it to be somewhere else. the latter can become an obsession, and true happiness is seldom, if ever, gained from constant rearrangement, or change without end, or for its own sake.

If they age and if they also break-in then cables probably never stand a chance
of ever sounding correct. To cope with this problem I suggest audiophiles sing
along to this therapy....

I have used cables that were 15 years old...if there's a difference... my degraded hearing....I couldn't tell.

Good question....but a non issue.

Cables...atleast my experience...do break-in or equalise..the biggest proof to me is the change in sound dispersion from my speakers...directional to non directional in varying degrees....and it is not subtle or imagination.

To prevent cable break out after break in - purchase some cable anti wear out oil - it is the lack of lubrication that kills the di in dielectric - or did it put the ape in apricot? Either way - you must be sure that the cable anti wear out oil was made from the same snake oil that caused the cable to be so special in the first place - it's just later in the season. (this editorial comment was not meant to insult snakes or reptiles)

In professional recording studios ALL cables are replaced whenever there is a perceived change in audio quality or any electrical problem with the equipment. Although the cost of replacing all of the cables is high it is cost effective in reducing downtime. Replacing the cables will resolve 90-95% of equipment related problems immediately.
So cables do "wear out" in the sense that they can malfunction at any time, whatever the actual cause.