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What Exactly Does "Burn In" do for Electronics?

I understand the break in of an internal combustion engine and such, but was wondering what exactly "burn in" of electrical equipment benefits musicality, especially with solid state equipment? Tubes (valves) I can see where they work better with age, to a point, but not quite sure why usage would improve cables, for instance. Thanks in advance for your insight.
dfontalbert
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
With the cost of patents these days running around $10,000 bucks a pop that's a lot of spinach to get some supposed credibility. Besides, one stipulation for a patent is you actually have to describe in excrutiatingly detail how the things works. Furthermore, if someone in some godforsaken part of the world is clever enough to knock it off there's not a helluva lot you can do about it. Not to mention curious little audiophiles with too much time on their hands. Lol
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,636 posts
 
Obviously, like most industries with a long history,there are a lot of quality companies and people in high end audio.

Then there are the pure charlatans and everything in between.

It is what it is, not that much different really than most things.
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
"Burn in" believers imply that something will change for the better after a period of time.
The only way this can happen is if the characteristics of the components change.
All good equipment is measured, tested, calibrated and designed to perform it's best before it leaves the factory.

If any of the above characteristics change after this with "burn in". Then this equipment will not test the same, be in calibration, or measure the way the designer wanted it to remain when it left the factory. And could only sound worse after "burn in".

Ok lets say things do change after "burn in", how does any designer compensate for this, in his calibrations, measurements, tests and design????

The only thing in audio I know of that can change "sound" for better or worse, are mechanical things like speaker suspension systems

Cheers George
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"Ok lets say things do change after "burn in", how does any designer compensate for this, in his calibrations, measurements, tests and design????"

They compensate for this by breaking the prototypes in before they listen and measure. For example, a designer may want to try several different capacitors when building an amp to see which one sounds the best. If they want to try 5 different options, they break the amp in 5 different times. They don't do any serious listening or measurements until they break the amp in first. This is the way they all do it. I don't think you could find one company that doesn't break their equipment like this. You don't have to take my word for it, either. Call some manufactures and ask them.

csontos
1,311 posts
 
I think the compensation issue is apples and oranges. Break in at the manufacturer is about ensuring it stays in spec. Changing out parts for different effect has nothing to do with so-called burn in. The same issue would apply.
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