Beware of the cable claiming long burn in period.

"Prove it?" Would't go there. You may challenged to pick out high end cable with the lights off. Better yet, pick out the same high end cable with various levels of burn in times. You are correct, talk is cheap.

@michaelgreenaudio -  +1(per paragraph)

Geoffkait - I never said that I would endeavor to cook a cable for 500 hours.  Someone on the forum posted that it could take that long.  I thought that was ridiculous as you did.

I am satisfied with 24 hours on the cables I audition.  Sometimes I allow an IC it to stay plugged in on a full band radio station with classical and rock for 5 days, especially on cables from other manufacturers.  I don't use a cable cooker.  However, just allowing a cable to play for 6 to 8 hours often yields superior results.  For A/C cables, they get plugged into a frig for a day or two.  They also usually sound quick good after 8 hours in an audio system only.  

(The corollary is that inadequate cables don't sound good regardless of the time they spend cooking).  

@michaelgreenaudio 
+1 (per week)