Please find the excuses for me not to buy Stax 009S headphone

Innocent question: how long does it take Stax 009S headphones and carbon amp to burn in?

I am getting 2 month used one.

Thus it must had been burn in.

Usually amp take 200 hours of burn in.

Stax 009S take less than 100 hour’s burn in since it had been already burnt in in factory.

shkong78 OP
I am getting 2 month used one.

Thus it must had been burn in.

Usually amp take 200 hours of burn in.

Stax 009S take less than 100 hour’s burn in since it had been already burnt in in factory.


>>>>>If they’re already burned in at the factory why is any additional burn in required? 😳

I’ve had 4 different Stax headphones from brand-new, (2x 009, 009S, L700), and have heard a used 009 and two used 007. Also I was able to compare a brand-new 009 to burned in 009 examples. Unlike dynamic headphones, I’ve never noticed any discernible amount of burn-in effect with Stax. They should sound exactly "right", right out of the box from hour #1. Any minor differences in sound are likely to be from differences in pad conditioning over time (or different sub-versions in the case of 007, but not 009).

Also I didn’t pay too much attention to burn-in of my new Carbon when I got it; sounded great right out of the box though I concede there may be some subtle improvements over 200 hours. My DIY T2 also sounded 99.9% there right out of the box. Many builders will usually do some amp burn-in as part of their final testing.

But that doesn’t answer the question whether Stax burns in their headphones at the factory prior to shipping. Which I kind of doubt, actually.