Cable Break In for the Naysayers


I still cannot believe that in this stage of Audio history there are still many who claim cable break in is imagined. They even go so far as claim it is our ears that break in to the new sound. Providing many studies in the way of scientific testing. Sigh...

I noticed such a recent discussion on the What’s Best Forum. So here is my response.

______________________________________________________________________________________________ I just experienced cable break in again firsthand. 10 Days ago, I bought a new set of the AudioQuest Thunderbird XLR 2M interconnects.

First impression, they sounded good, but then after about 30 hours of usage the music started sounding very closed in and with limited high frequencies. This continued until about 130 hours of music play time.

Then at this time, the cables started to open up and began to sound better and better each passing hour. I knew at the beginning they would come around because they sounded ok at first until the break in process started. But now they have way surpassed that original sound.

Now the soundstage has become huge with fantastic frequency extensions. Very pleased with the results. Scientifically I guess we can’t prove cable break in is real, but with good equipment, good ears, it is clearly a real event.

ozzy

ozzy

unreceivedogma

Enjoy your cult of what can at best be characterized as confirmation bias.

Those who think differently than you are not necessarily in a "cult."

I prefer the secular world. I prefer to spend my idle capital at Habitat for Humanity.

That's nice virtue signalling! But guess what? Habitat for Humanity is anything but secular. See here:

Since our founding in 1976 as a Christian organization, together we have helped more than 62 million people in countries ...

I just received my AudioQuest Dragon speaker cables, and I need to let them breakin in a little. Probably about 100 hours since they are used. Does that sound right?

ozzy

Some interesting points but it was clearly written by a cable manufacturer.  Would have been even more interesting had they said,

"we put a comprehensive loom of our competitor's midrange products up against a mismatch of our reference products, and our competitor's cohesive mid-range loom beats our mismatch of reference cables every time."

Has anyone experienced the need to break in used cables? I have. I guess it depends as to how long they have been used, usually it only takes a few days.

After having to re-break in used speakers nothing surprises me anymore. 

Yes, they sounded like crap for 50 hours, I thought they were broken. Then were "ok" for up to 100 hours or so, and then around about 2 weeks later or 150 hours it was like someone flipped a light switch -after that they sounded "right" and more in line with some of the reviews I have read. They were stored for almost 5 years.