"Burn in" Are you serious?

BTW, in my above post, I did not listen to my cables while I burned them in, so there is no way that I got used to them. I listened to them, flinched, disconnected them, used other cables while I connected mine to device I have that generates pink noise for several days, put them back in, and did not flinch.

Do we know the boundaries of quantum physics? Did Max Planck explain it fully or just make us aware of its existence for others to expand on? Will we ever understand it fully? Yes indeed Bmpnyc here we go round and round in the "Circle Game". I agree with the proponents, for whatever its worth. Have heard it on some gear and not on others. Why? It is one of those things that hasn't and to date can't be fully described scientifically. Those inquiring minds that do hear it and ask why and are perservering enough to find an answer may one day be able to explain it to the rest of us.

Brulee: You ask a very fair question, and the answer is, No. If I had experienced the same change that Perfectimage experienced, I would not conclude that burn-in was a real phenomenon. The reason I wouldn't should be obvious from my previous posts: I could not be sure whether the change I perceived was caused by a physical change in the equipment or by my own acclimation to the sound. I would be more willing to attribute that change to burn-in if some physical explanation were available. I'd also be more willing to attribute it to burn-in if someone were to demonstrate that acclimation doesn't really happen. Until that time, I remain a skeptic. You're free to remain a believer. And anyone who's on the fence (lurkers, obviously, not posters) can consider both our points of view, do their own listening, do their own reading, and make up their minds for themselves. You and I are both helping them do that, which is why I think these theological arguments really are worthwhile.

Jostler3, well said.

I always subscribed to the idea of burn-in previously, having experienced the sound of a new component blooming and evolving over time. I've also put new components into my system that never became appealing no matter how long they seasoned (usually cables). As a result of this thread I tried a little experiment with new and burned-in cables. I bought a new set of Cardas Golden Reference interconnect, 1m length, for my turntable. Instead I thought it would be better to use the new cable on the CD player and transfer my existing identical but burned-in cable from the CD player to the turntable. This gave me an opportunity to compare the two cables to each other with relative ease by listening carefully to the old cables on the CD then replacing them with the new. Much to my surprise I heard very little difference, if any. The new cables sounded great right out of the box. And Cardas is one of the strongest proponents for burn-in. Go figure. Given the disparity of experience expressed here it's clear that burn-in has many complex variables. My simple experiment can hardly be extrapolated to the broader context of burn-in but it's got me thinking. Great thread!