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Skeptic or just plain hard headed

So I purchased a pair of Morrow Audio phono cables. These are the PH3 with the Eichmann connectors. Wanted to start there to see if MA cables will be a viable option for my system.I think my story is not so unique to others who have purchased MA cables. So no need to go into the hu hum of burn-in in regards to MA cables, and how things sound bad at first, then gets better,  then excellent...yada yada yada. I know the story about this product.  I simply am one who is not a believer in electronics break in periods, or battery packs on cables, etc... Regardless of what side of the fence you are on in regards to that Im NOT trying to start that debate again please.. Anyway. After reading several reviews of the MA cables and understanding that most agreed that the cables needed a substantial burn-in time, and that the cables would not sound its best until this happens I decided to give them a try. Thinking ok lets get a jump on the burn-in period (if the concept is true). I paid for the 2 day burn-in service from MA. What I didn't expect is that when I got the cable it would sound as bad as it did in comparison to my existing name brand cable (not getting into that either, not relevant). I thought well the cable might not quite be up to snuff with all this talk about burn-in (if its true) but not that much of a difference.  I mean as soon as I dropped the needle on the record I immediately heard a profound difference in sound stage and clarity degridation. Needless to say this cable was destined to be returned to MA for a full refund and my thinking was "they are crazy if I am going to trade my cable for this cable" So I decided to give MA a call to setup the return. Talked with Mike Morrow (very nice guy by the way) and we had our differences in what I should expect out of his product. Now my Mother always told me that I have a hard head.. I heard that growing up all my life, and when you couple that with skepticism it makes a pretty, well lets just say not a very fun person to have a debate with lol. However Mike insisted that if I return the cable that I would be missing out on the fruit they would bare after 400 hours of break in. 400 hours??? really!. Oh at that point I was really ready to return them. I told all my friends "Mike must be nuts" (no offense Mike) no way am I going to wait a year to hear what this cable is capable of, AND I do not have any way to expedite the process...at least I thought I didn't until I found an old sound bar I don't use anymore with analog inputs. Ok I know you pro MA and  pro cable burn-in folks are chomping at the bit. Im almost done. Take your hands off the keyboard for just a few more lines. 

So here is the deal to be fair I am going to be open minded about this because Mike really made me feel like I would be missing out if I return the cable without a proper burn-in (great salesman), and since he had such conviction I now think I have to test this thing out right??. Now I know that there are testimonials out there about how the MA cable improved over 100s of hours in their system, and that they are now "blown away". However can you really hear a profound difference in a cable you play in your system over 170 hours or so?  I would think a gradual difference would be harder to detect. I mean my system seems to sound better to me everyday without making any changes. Is it because of  continued cable and electronics burn in?? maybe. Or maybe its just my brain becoming more intimate with the sound of my system. Well this test I'm doing should reveal a night and day difference from what the system sounds like today with the cable pre burn-in if there is any merit to the notion. In regards to does it sound better than my existing cable that is yet to be determined. I think my goal now is to prove or dis-prove if cable burn-in is a real thing. This whole idea has evolved from if it's an improvement or not over what I use today. We can discuss that later.

I now have the cable connected between a cd player , and a sound bar with a CD playing on repeat. The disc of choice for this burn-in is rather dynamic so it should be a good test. At the end of 16 days (384 hours) I will move the cables to my reference system and do about another 20 hours of additional burn-in to compensate for moving the cable. This will put a total of 452 hours of burn-in on the PH3. When I put this cable back in my system I sure hope it sings because this is a lot to go through to add a cable to your system. Mike if you are right I will eat crow and will preach from the highest mountain top that you are right, and that cable burn-in is REAL.  For me anyway the myth will be considered busted or reinforce my belief that cable burn-in is a bunch of BS. 

For those who will argue the point of cable burn-in I fully understand the concept, and I don't plan to get sucked down that rat hole and I won't argue that....yet because at the end of this test I may be in your camp and I don't want to have a steady diet of crow so for now I will remain neutral on the subject until the test is complete.  However I will be totally transparent and honest about the results. So not trying to make anyone angry as I know beliefs about audio are sensitive subjects, and rightfully so this hobby is expensive and I like you have a substancial investment in this. Just trying to get to the truth. I also understand that cable burn-in may actually happen when you consider it from a scientific perspective, but the real question is can you actually hear the difference.  

I will report back to this thread in 17 days from today (need at least one day to evaluate) with the results. 

happy listening!!

-Keith
barnettk
barnettk OP
410 posts
 
@douglas_schroeder  (modified/reposted to correct spelling) Very interesting article. Well written and exactly in line with my thinking. I think you nailed it with acclimation being what most consider a result of burn in (My thinking as well). I also feel that in my test hearing samples of the two versions of the cable seamlessly will definitely be a good way to detect if there is any difference. The brain will not have a chance to reset between swapping the cables and if there is a difference it will be immediately apparent. Off topic but relevant there is an excellent book I recommend in regards to how our brains tell us what we hear, and how we hear it when we listen to music. You may have read it, its titled "This is you brain on music" (the science of human obsession) by Daniel J Levitin. Very good read. Basically we intuitively know when we are hearing music correctly even though we may not know anything about how music is made or how to play it. We have learned it from birth. For evaluation phase of my test I am also going to use another "audiophile"  and  someone who is not into the hobby because you do not have to be an audiophile in order to detect if there is a change in the quality the sample. Hopefully that will add some validity to the test, but Im sure as you pointed out that there will be people who doubt the results. Nice article, and nice work Douglas.
barnettk OP
410 posts
 
@douglas_schroeder  Im reading your review on MA ICs now. I am going to start following your site. very interesting articles and reviews. 
ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
Some items are more given to burn in improvement than others. Case in point; cartridges and speakers have always sounded better after > 60 to 100 hours in my systems.
Those are mechanical systems, like shoes, and take time to loosen up.

Cables, OTOH, are like a rain coat. It either keeps you dry or it doesn't. It may have other properties like being too heavy or too hot, but those are secondary to its primary purpose.
wolf_garcia
6,767 posts
 
I use Morrow cables and I might like them a little better BEFORE break-in, although I have to admit they can sound fine after break-in...Still...I simply use them for a while and then swap them out hoping they will "un" break-in so I can put them back in the rotation, but have to constantly monitor them to make sure they don’t get "too" broken in as that just ruins everything until I swap them out for ones that have rested and lost their broken-in sound. This involves careful listening, and the ability to jump up and swap out the cables fast to insure no excessive break-in has occurred.
douglas_schroeder
3,281 posts
 

barnettk, thank you for the complement. I used to be "hard headed" many years ago, then decided to try things rather than give an opinion. There have been many surprises, and what I learned about burn in was among them.

Currently I am engaged in an ongoing experiment, if you will, about a method I named the Schroeder Method of Interconnect Placement in which I use splitters to literally double the interconnect cables. See discussion of it at my article, Audio Blast: The Schroeder Method of Interconnect Placement, and also in the thread here in the cable forum with my name attached to it. You will likely find that to be challenging to logic, but simple comparison would yield quite a different result than what I expect the burn in test to yield.  (Not trying to sidetrack the entire discussion, just adding for your benefit, as you are now interested in my thoughts. But please see the warnings, caveats, etc. associated, i.e. with class D amps.)

There are some things in audio that result in different outcomes than one expects. Opinions abound, but fewer are those who actually try. It is the trying that has made the journey so amazing to me. :)

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