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Equipment Break-in: Fact or Fiction

Is it just me, or does anyone else believe that all of the manufacturers' and users' claims of break-in times is just an excuse to buy time for a new users' ears to "adjust" to the sound of the new piece. Not the sound of the piece actually changing. These claims of 300+ hours of break-in for something like a CD player or cable seem outrageous.

This also leaves grey area when demo-ing a new piece as to what it will eventually sound like. By the time the break-in period is over, your stuck with it.

I could see allowing electronics to warm up a few minutes when they have been off but I find these seemingly longer and longer required break-in claims ridiculous.
bundy
ake
48 posts
 
It should be failry easy to test this hypothesis. All we need is just a blind test of the same equiptments with diffrence burn-in time (may be 5 of them: brand new, 10, 50, 100 and 500 hours burn-in time?). Actually, I wonder why those audio magazines do not try this kind of test? If the majority of the well respected testers can't ID the equiptment correctly (or at least be able to group them), that should indicate something.

My 2 cents again.

PS I think we should call it truce. If you don't believe in burning in then don't do it and go enjoy the musics!!

Ake
response34's avatar
response34
169 posts
 
There are somethings that happen in audio that science or theory can't explain. Power cords is one of the biggest mysteries to me with no explaination of why they do what they do. In "theory", they should make no difference. Go figure.
fiddler
581 posts
 
Will the sun shine tomorrow? Components definitely break in.
blackie
221 posts
 
One explanation of why power cords make a diference is because all of your components are giving off RF & EMI and this gets into unshielded power cord while the shielding on better cables helps prevent this hash from entering via the AC. Could be a bunch of voodoo though. All I know is I'm not going back to stock cords any time soon after hearing the difference a good power cable can make.
aball
2,016 posts
 
Ake - read Tireguy's post above. Blackie is right, you would be surprised how much EMI an amp makes - I have tested it in the lab. The allowable level is high for home equipment.
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