Cable "burning": Real or VooDoo ???

Hi Sean, I hate breaking in cables in my system so I offer my cables to friends or I will put them in my Moms system without her knowing about it. I also have a duo tech cable break in thingy that does a good job. The difference after break in is like the difference between a cold start and a system that has been warmed up for several hours. It makes a HUGE improvement IMO.

There was a post (forget which thread) and the individual described a method for making a cheap SE resistance cable break-in device. Half watt, 10K ohm resistor and an RCA plug. Sounded like a reasonable approach. Does anyone know of any similar cheapo methods for making your own balanced device for breaking in cables? Is the described approach okay? Thanks.

Hi Sean,
I too use the Duo-Tech Cable Enhancer with good results and yes, after using this devices to break in the cables, there is an obvious difference. Even did a comparison on 2 cables, same brand and the ones on the Duo-Tech sounded better overall. Another cheaper product is the XLO burn in cd.
Regards
Ramesh

I have noticed nothing but improvements as a cable breaks in. Becoming smoother, less bright, more extended at both frequency extremes. I don't have a fancy apparatus for cable break-in. For speaker cables, I simply run them hard. Usually for two to three weeks. At least a few hours a day. For interconnects, I learned a nice little method here on Audiogon(thanks to whoever suggested it, apologies for not remembering their name). I insert the cable between my tuner and integrated amp(preamp for those who have one). I keep the tuner on(which I always do anyway). The amp is off, but the tuner is selected. I have found that this actually works!

i just bought 2 pair of nordost valhalla interconnects and the nordost CBID 1 (cable burn-in device). after 6 days on the device the difference was astounding. i had demoed some cables broken in on the device by the dealer and was very impressed by the cables so i purchased some. but i had no way to asses the effect of the CBID 1. when i first got the new cables i plugged them in and was underwellemed. the effect of 6 days of break-in on the device was like a clearing a clogged pipe. i have always found breakin of anything effective; but this takes it to a new level. i had also pugged my speaker cables (transparent opus mm) to the CBID 1 so the effect was communelative for the whole system.