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Cable Cooking/Burnin

I read this on KLE Innovations, http://kleinnovations.com/kle-innovations-klei-products/essence-gzero-ic/, and wondered what your thoughts on Cable Cooking/Burnin might be ...

Burnin/Cooking Time

We believe that the Burnin/Cooking process can be thought of as an extension/finishing of the Annealing process.

This is a practice that can dramatically/drastically improve performance and has been gaining acceptance from HiFi enthusiasts :) Usually, any listener will be able to identify a marked change/improvement in audio component performance within the first 100 or more hours of use, whether it be a cable, connector, component or loudspeaker.

Burnin/Cooking time is the process whereby electrical signal/charge gradually settles/corrects/aligns dielectric, electromagnetic, and material (metal and non-metal) issues that occur/result during the construction process. These aspects are often and usually found in Cables/Connectors and usually results in a brittle, bright, muddy, non-cohesive sound that lacks the Detail, Resolution, Timbre, PRaT, Harmonic Texture, Organicness, Naturalness, and Staging which is desired for music reproduction. Burnin/Cooking Time improves the way that signal passes through the conductors and dielectrics and it is the resulting changes in signal transmission that refines and defines the performance of the audio cables.

While it is most important to implement Burnin/Cooking Time, upon purchase, routine maintenance is always important, also. Cables/Connectors that have not been played, or left unused, for long/prolonged periods of time, may become stagnant and again require Burnin/Cooking Time.
yping
yping OP
351 posts
 
The following has been suggested, what do you think...

Break in for cables makes a difference. Are we really burning in the cable or settling the dielectric ? Both actually. The conductor takes minimal time of constant play to burn in a path of least resistance. It is the dielectric that needs to form. Constant play for many hours of break in does not allow the dielectric to cool down to form.

A method of 24 hours on (continuous playing) then 6 hours off then 6 hours on then 6hrs off and so on until cooking/burnin is complete...
williewonka
3,082 posts
 
Yping, in the last couple of years I have tried "cooked" and "uncooked" cables.

I've found that Cooking gets you to "end-state" much quicker, but actual usage still refines the SQ of cooked cables even further.

- E.g. even a well cooked cable sounded much better after 100 hours of playing - but it would have taken in excess of 500 hours to attain the same SQ without cooking
:-(

Most cookers do a very good job, so rather than trying to figure out which cooking method is better, may I suggest you just pick one.

The simple "plug-and-cook" solution sounds the easiest process to me - much less fussing

The time you will save allows you more time to enjoy the music :-)

Regards
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
I use the burn in track of the XLO test CD which can be put on REPEAT and played continuous for say one day or two days or a week or more. At any point along the way one can audition the system to see how the sound is coming along. In the case of the XLO burn in track the recommendation is for continuous break in as opposed to start/stop. TG Audio used to burn in their cables which are VERY GOOD for around one month prior to shipping to customers.
williewonka
3,082 posts
 
Here's a purpose built DIY unit...

http://desirableaudio.blogspot.ca/2009/01/diy-kable-kooker.html

Regards...
ct0517's avatar
ct0517
2,041 posts
 
Well since no one is bothering to ask about the Elephant in the room - I will.

Why would any audiophile with one, maybe two systems need a cable cooker?

fwiw
Any new wires/cables I buy are burned in for me by the Retailer-Seller for a nominal fee ?

So just curious...

@Yping your thread did however prompt me to ask Take Five Audio about this who have built some of my cables. (Just a happy customer of theirs)

So I provide this info.

"We have a couple of the Audiodharma Cable Cookers, our old one is the original design and we have another which is the latest model of the "Standard Plus". They do a good job on the cables. I think you would need several complex systems to justify the cost of a cooker because there is a limit to how often you can condition them and still hear the difference."
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