Results:
For those who just want the short and sweet answer and to get on with their lives. Burn-in of audio cables or at least this particular cable does make a difference in how that cable sounds in your system. If you want to know how much keep reading.
Going to try and keep this as short as possible, however I think its only fair to carefully go over my conclusion and my thoughts about this test of a highly debated subject between audio enthusiast that dates back decades. I guess it only makes sense that audio interconnects and speaker cable would be a marketable item for gear manufactures once they found out that we would pay enormous amounts of money on home audio gear. After all its the cables that connect all this expensive high quality equipment together in the first place right. Hence an argument was born about if a piece of copper wire, and dielectric wrapped in a nice pretty sheath really makes or breaks a system. A lot of us take what we consider a common sense approach, some take a more scientific approach, and most of us are caught someplace in the middle when it comes to the importance of audio cables in our systems. So the argument rages on between the haves and the have nots for whichever side of that fence you stand on.
Let me start by saying this. Im not trying to change anyones mind, but I think now I am going to at least take a side. Prior to this experiment I was firmly on the side of while I felt that cables made a difference, I considered things like Cable burn in and such was just snake oil and burning in a cable would not make any difference in how that cable sounded from day 1.. after all its a cable for goodness sakes. Right... well maybe.
For those that have not had time to read this whole post let me quickly summerize the goal of all this. I purchased a Morrow Audio PH3 phono cable as an upgrade. I am currently using an Audioquest MacKenzie cable for this application. I had read a lot of reviews of the Morrow Audio product and people were just raving about them. So I decided to see what the hype is all about and maybe it would be a better solution for me over what I have now. Got the cable installed it and was not impressed initially at all. There was a profound difference in sound quality between the MA cable and the AQ cable. Called MA, and was told that the cable wouldn't deliver until it was fully burned in after 400 HOURS of use. I thought that was ridiculous, but decided to see for myself. So I rigged a way to pass an audio signal down the cable for 400+ hours. Prior to doing that I made a recording of a record I am very failure with to set up an A/B comparison after the burn in period and that 451 hours happened today. My goal was to try and determine if burn in of a audio interconnect made ANY difference at all.
what did I do exactly:
The source I used for the A/B comparison was Donald Fagen's The Night Fly MoFi special edition 45 RPM LP. This is an amazing sounding record and I am very very failure with the entire album. been listening to it since it was originally released back in 1982. So I recorded the first track I.G.Y to my reel to reel prior to connecting the cable for the burn in process. Oh by the way the cable came from MA with 48 hours of burn in from their factory because I purchased the burn-in service.
Upon initially listing to the MA cable in my system compared to the Mackenzie it sounded flat and lifeless. Almost like the cable did not have a soul if that makes sense. The bass was muddy to me, and the sound stage was there but just messy.. not sure how else to describe it.
After burn-in I rewound the tape about to the middle of the song and lined up the record as close as I could to where the tape was then recorded from there to the end of the song. Doing this I was able to splice in the MA cable performance post burn in. During playback as the tape played to the cross over point in the song I could hear a definite improvement. The first thing I noticed was a slight rise in amplitude, the dynamic range was improved, but the biggest difference was the sound stage. Fagen's voice re-aligned in the sound stage where it should be and the separation between his voice and the instruments was apparent. pre burn-in I was very aware of my Olympica IIIs in the room. As the reel progressed to the burn-in section of the tape the speakers disappeared more into the room and the song just became more enjoyable to listen to overall. Now Im not saying that the sky opened up and the Angles began to sing in harmony while Gabriel's trumpet summoned me to heaven but I am saying that on this tape there is a noticeable difference between the pre and post burn-in of the MA cable.
Conclusion of the tape test:
Burn in made the cable sound better. Period
Now could it top my existing AQ cable which it clearly could not when I first received it.
Moving from the recording I made on the reel to reel I could now really stretch the cables legs. First up I compared Cassandra Wilson's Blue Moon Daughter LP. On the track Strange Fruit. My AQ cable did not disappoint and sounded good as it usually does. However when I installed the PH3...wow what a difference 400 hours makes. Just a side note. If you really want to see if your system can create a realistic sound stage and if you want to see if your system can reproduce a recording the way it's meant to be heard for you jazz fans this is a MUST have recording. Its recorded on the Blue Note label and its pressing quality is rather amazing. I selected this record because properly reproducing a female vocalist IMO is one of the hardest things for most systems to do. The MA cable really did a fantastic job of separating Cassandr's vocal from the Bass violin and other instruments on the record. The speakers TOTALLY disappeared into the room to the point that I actually felt that she and her band were in my listening room. The sound stage was perfect, and I do mean perfect. On this particular song the AQ cable made her vocal and the Bass violin almost on top of each other. I could clearly determine where each instrument was on the stage.. this was to me a revelation as I have not heard this record like this previously in my listening area. Im trying not to sound to well "over the top" but I guess you had to be here. For this recording the MA cable BLEW the AQ cable away no doubt about it.
I continued to play various LPs John Klemmer's Finesse, and rounded it out with Pink Floyd The wall which IMO is an amazing piece of Rock and Roll. On Klemmer the Tenor Sax was deep with accurate timbre, Floyd's antics were spot on. Both Cables handled the other music I listened to admirably but I have to give the edge still to the MA cable.Then I put on Wagner Walkure, and that is when the majic happened. The symphony was incredible followed by Mahler Symphony No 3 also incredible. Again both cables did a good job but the edge again has to go to the MA cable.
Wait was that an angle I just heard, and it sounded like I heard a faint trumpet in the distance.. must be hearing things..
Conclusion to my conclusion:
The MA cable is a keeper now that its burned in. I am considering buying another cable for my tube system, but I am going to go with one that does not need this much care to settle in as I am just not that patient. I mean 400 hours under normal listening conditions would just simply be way way to long. So while I do like how it sounds now.. prob won't go down that path again.
Did the MA cable make a noticeable difference after 400 hours of burn in YES it did. If you don't believe it...get you one and put 400 hours on it and see for yourself. Could I have heard the difference with 400 hours of normal play hell no. It would be to subtle. You have to do a comparison to remove the lapsed time in between. If you buy this cable and listen out of the box you will most likely return it. It has to go through the burn in. MA was correct on that.
Next time I buy:
I think moving forward whatever the next cable I buy will have to sound good out of the box or at least over 48 hours or so as it should only get better from there.
This whole thing has left me with more questions than answers about cables I have to say. Example.. I wonder where that line is.. you know the line of diminishing returns. Does a cable that costs $2500 sound that much better than a $400 cable?? Im sure I will never know. Are there different burn in periods for different cables or is 400 hours the golden number that a cable actually sings. Questions questions questions. For now I am going to just be happy with where Im at and get back to enjoying the music. Maybe someday I will try another cable upgrade.. no time soon tho.
In close:
I am convinced that cables do make a difference, and cable burn-in..well Im a believer. Oh by the way I did not ask my wife and friends to listen here because It was clear. Not even close in regards to is there a difference after burn-in. It was obvious to me.
Thanks for reading. Happy listening!
