Discuss Driver Break in - Fact or Fiction? in the DIY Speakers | DIY Subwoofers forum. I experienced a dramatic break in with my Sennheiser HD600 headphones used with a Asus Xonar Essence STX as a ...
I experienced a dramatic break in with my Sennheiser HD600 headphones used with a Asus Xonar Essence STX as a headphone amp. I thought I had lost my headphones (sister came to clean while I was sick) and replaced them with identical ones. The new ones sounded very different for the first couple of hundred hours but now they sound the same. I found the older ones and did AB testing, not ABx but the sound was very different.
I generally don't believe in high end nonsense with cables and such but it makes sense to me that a mechanical system such as headphones would change quite a bit over time.
I believe it to be fact. Many of the Drivers i have purchased or seen state that there t/s parameters are before break-in or sometimes after. And weather or not it makes a differance i know first hand especially with subs that the suspension loosens up after awhile.
Your right, there is no evidence for any sort of break in with electronic components. Its the mechanical properties of transducers that change with break in. People like to think they can hear whats not measurable but it purely placebo effect. Placebo effect is very real and occurs all the time, especially when someone spends a lot of money on something like cables. There is this whole subculture that's entirely made up of people with too much money and too much time to fantasize about what might sound better. I used to love reading Stereophile but the off the wall talk of the entirely subjective was too much for me. There's even a language that's developed around it. I wonder if its somehow linked to testosterone as it seems to affect only males.
The first thing we audiophiles learn is to throw in the garbage all of the 'audiophile language' we picked up from from the mass marketing monkeys, and self absorbed golden eared wanna bees, that write equipment reviews for certain magazines, that make their money from the same advertisers they are reviewing equipment for
Not to mention any names &$^#()phile.
If a new drive has a stiff suspension, that softens when its starts to be used, and this is factored into the design, then driver break in has to be real. The driver will move more easily under a given load once the tight new materials start to loosen up, which in driver terms should mean a deeper/warmer/more bass driven character. Its only like new shoes that soften up.
I for one subscribe to those effects, and having tested a fair few new drivers, I'm pretty sure I notice it happen too. This can be measured, because the TSP's of a brand new driver are different to what they will be after 100 hours use, with the driver upto operating temperature, and played at a good volume. Ive not read this thread, but thats where I stand on that. How audible it actually is I guess depends on the driver and its application, but I think the effects are most noticed at lower frequencies, so the less they are present, I would say the less they are noticed. I cant say if a tweeter has the same break in, or that Ive ever noticed it on tweeters, but subs and bass in speakers, I have.
wow, how could i have not seen it. you know those things called atoms have to be a fad like the atom bomb. you can't see them (Atoms) with the naked eye. yet they bounce around when they are conducting energy. how could i have missed it. therer could never be any kind of change on a molectular level in things. kind of like the earth being round when we all know it's flat and you will just fall off the edge when you get there. stupid placebo people that call themselves audiophiles. how dare they say such things after they spend all that money and look for some rational explanation for spending it and what the benifits are. how dare them...............
and self absorbed golden eared wanna bees, that write equipment reviews for certain magazines, that make their money from the same advertisers they are reviewing equipment for
Not to mention any names &$^#()phile.
Doesnt a public consensus of a good or bad product make this almost impossible? Dont publications loose creditability if this is shown to be true? Can you cite specific examples of products that, you believed, clearly received scores higher than they should have from these big publications? I realize all reviews, 'pro' or otherwise, must be taken with a grain of salt and its all subjective, but Im still curious what makes you say the big boys are willing to sacrifice their name in pursuit of the almighty dollar.
Doesnt a public consensus of a good or bad product make this almost impossible?
No. Can you spell Bose? I will let you do your own homework, that is the y in diy. I have read certain publications for over 25 years and it is not difficult to see what a publication is really about...
My bad, I should have used the term an 'educated' public consensus. For those with a basic education, taking audio advice from a Bose owner would be a lot like taking financial advice from a poor man. But Ill do the research into your claim.
