2. cables
  3. 180366-177742

Cable burn in

Hi all. I’m guessing that what I’m experiencing is pretty normal. But it can’t hurt to get some feedback. I purchased a DMS-650 from Cary Audio which is a DAC/Streamer. Since hifi folks have highly opinionated views on cables, nothing is included with the unit. So when I set it up, I had to scramble and I found the three conductor cable that came with a cheap Sony DVD player. Then I replaced that RCA interconnect with a much better quality Blue Jeans cable. Initially the increase in quality was apparent and obviously worth it. However the sound could be hasrsh on certain recordings. Various tracks had a harshness that wasn’t there before. I’ve been playing internet radio during the day for burn in. Now that harshness has vanished. Sitting down to listen last night, things were actually too warm. Some tracks sounded almost muddy. The sparkle was diminished in an obvious way. I am guessing that once burn is complete the sound will settle happily in the middle somewhere. Is that a reasonable assumption?  I’m also likely going to order power cables and an interconnect from Audio Envy or maybe some other companies to compare. The guy who sold me the Cary Audio gear is not a salesy guy, but he did pretty emphatically recommend some higher quality cables. 

chiadrum
teo_audio
2,197 posts
 

Burn in, as a pattern..tends to go:

an initially dirty upper mid range glare and a subtle mono-ish effect,

then down to cleaner stereo but muted/darker/soft,

then slowly back up to cleaner, more evenly balanced dynamic stereo.

 

This, over a 100 hr period of playing a new cable, or component - with line level signals.

1971gto455ho's avatar
1971gto455ho
482 posts
 

Do your research, this topic has been beaten to death for ever. The only rule of thumb.., Companies will charge whatever the market will bare. There are mechanical facts, there is a lot of BS with plenty a blow-hard. In short a person has to believe their own musical hearing. 
 

Cheers 

holmz's avatar
holmz
2,328 posts
 

Take speaker cable for example. All frequencies need to be transmitted equally without any timing changes and transients need to arrive at the speaker without change. Hmm, I'm wondering it house mains wire would be suitable. I think not.

Yes mains wire would work for speakers.
One can try it themselves to verify it.

 

The wire’s conductor does not know, or predict the frequencies… and it just lets the electrical field do its thing, thereby just pushing along the electrons... or not. The electric field propagates along largely irrespective of the impedance and current.

That electric field is not a timing and transcients thing. For all intents and purposes it runs at the speed of light, or some fraction thereof.

 

Qobuz (and I imagine most others) uses lossless compression and high quality streamers use buffering… so the file received will be the same. Obviously, from then on… it is all streamer dependent.

Is the OP using Qobuz or something similar?
Do they all work the same, or are some of the services lossy?
And if so, which ones are lossy or not lossy?

pwoodard922
34 posts
 

I have found both better speaker cables (audio envy) and interconnects (morrow audio) made significant improvements to my DAC and streamer sound quality.  Customer service is excellent at both companies

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,697 posts
 

@chiadrum 

The Audioquest Monsoon power cord is a good place to start. It’s $495 for a 2m cord and there’s one for sale here on Agon for $299, make offer.  I know I’ve seen them for $250 delivered not to long ago.

All the best.

More to discover