Breaking in headphones, true difference or myth?

[mintcheerios]

I just got a pair of HD600's so this topic came to my mind. I haven't seen anyone actually doing a blind ABX test on 2 pairs of headphones with a different amount of hours on them. Some people swear that breaking in headphones makes a significant difference.

A lot of people say just do it since you have nothing to lose, but I think you do lose something because you are wearing down your expensive headphones (especially with some of the techniques people recommend).

All this reminds me of that Bullshit! episode where people are given tap water from a hose disguised as rare fancy expensive water and going "wow, this water definitely beats tap water". Maybe there is a difference in breaking in headphones, but has anyone done a test scientifically to support this (like a blind comparison)?

 

[PhilR]

Breaking in headphones? Sounds like bullshit to me. Now breaking headphones I can understand. Ours get fucked up almost once a week.

I've started building my own iso phones though. Which saves us some money.

 

[Mancha]

That reminds me of those HiFi freaks talking about breaking in cables for a few days non-stop. I mean, sure, they change resistance and impedance over time, but not that fast that you could even measure it (but hey, they might have some special ninja senses and the rest of us might be half deaf ).

 

[Keregioz]

I recently got a pair of AKG K701 which supposedly have a "breaking in" period of 300 hours (?!)... Well....I'm way past the 300 hour mark and I can't honestly say that they're better than before. They are awesome btw.

I don't know if "breaking in" actually works but it definitely doesn't damage your headphones.

 

[Metaltastic]

What are some of the techniques suggested for breaking in ones cans?

 

[grywolf627]

What I've noticed is it depends on the headphones. With my Grados...it was recommended to help tame the ultra crisp highs. So I followed the suggestions: Hook them up to my stereo receiver (with a healthy built-in headphone amp), put on a CD set to repeat, stick them in a drawer (or in my case, left them on the chair with a pillow over them)...and let it play for about 30 hours. I can attest that for my Grados (SR-80's), it helped. They sounded awesome before breaking in...but afterwards, the highs got tamed, and they sound beautiful now. Just my 2 cents.

 

[egan.]

Plenty of speaker manufacturers have recommended speaker break in procedures. It seems logical to me that manufacturers would engineer headphones/speakers to sound best after some use rather in the first 10 or 20 hours of use b/c things will certainly change during this period. If you don't buy into it tho, just use them and they will eventually be broken in regardless. This isn't an audiophile myth since it's based on a pretty easily detectable fact that new speakers and old speakers sound different.

 

[RipShredmohr]

I got a pair of k701s back in December and I have yet to notice the dramatic difference in the highs that is supposed to happen after 300+ hours.

 

[Zuranthus]

i think it's BS...you just grow accustomed to a new sound over time. when i first got my headphones i didn't like em cause i used to use earphones, now i listen to the earphones & completely detest the sound coming out

 

[AStacy2]

It's not bullshit, it really does help. Especially with cheaper speakers that aren't 15''+ in my opinion. A loudspeaker is a piston on a sping, and the spring is tighter until it get's used some to loosen it up.


I had the same thing happen with a pair of Grado's except mine took about 15x longer to break in than Grywolfs.

 

[egan.]

i think it's BS...you just grow accustomed to a new sound over time. when i first got my headphones i didn't like em cause i used to use earphones, now i listen to the earphones & completely detest the sound coming out

I don't really understand how the fact that "you just grow accustom to new sound over time" would render the notion of a break in period "B.S." As HextheNet just stated, we are talking about physical moving parts. The whole idea is that things do change. If you personally "just get used to it" it doesn't mean that someone else won't appreciate the difference. If nothing else, the fact that well respected pro-audio (Senn., Grado, Celestion, AKG, etc.) manufacturers discuss some sort of break-in should lend some credibility to the concept.

 

[Metaltastic]

Besides Zuranthus, how do you know that what you thought was you "getting used to it" wasn't in fact the sound of the 'phones changing?

 

[JBroll]

i think it's BS...you just grow accustomed to a new sound over time. when i first got my headphones i didn't like em cause i used to use earphones, now i listen to the earphones & completely detest the sound coming out

That's a factor but not the entirety. Breaking in cables... bullshit. Breaking in moving parts right out of the factory that are guaranteed to change over time... not bullshit.

Better and worse are hard to tell, but as a speaker is basically acting as a papered spring when it gets to any real level there will be changes.

Jeff

 

[mintcheerios]

In theory it makes sense that the sound of speakers will change with heavy usage, but the question is whether there will be a significant audible difference. I guess what I'd like to see is someone with a new pair of say HD600's and a pair that has gone through 100 hours. An experiment could be setup to invite a bunch of audiophiles to try and distinguish the two pairs in a blind trial. The blindfolded subject would be challenged to match the pair of headphones he is randomly given 10 times. At any time the subject can ask to listen to the pair of his choice. After he does this the pair is given back to the experimenter who randomizes both pairs again. Of course the subject can only make his guesses after the pairs have been randomized. Each guess will be recorded for 10 guesses. The conclusions will be based on the statistical probabilities from guessing vs. genuinely getting them right. Man I wish I had some extra money and time to burn.

 

[Kazrog]

I recently got a pair of AKG K701 which supposedly have a "breaking in" period of 300 hours (?!)... Well....I'm way past the 300 hour mark and I can't honestly say that they're better than before. They are awesome btw.

I don't know if "breaking in" actually works but it definitely doesn't damage your headphones.

I tried these headphones out once. Truly amazing. Listen to Porcupine Tree on them if you haven't already. One day I will order a pair of K701s...

 

[AStacy2]

In theory it makes sense that the sound of speakers will change with heavy usage, but the question is whether there will be a significant audible difference. I guess what I'd like to see is someone with a new pair of say HD600's and a pair that has gone through 100 hours. An experiment could be setup to invite a bunch of audiophiles to try and distinguish the two pairs in a blind trial. The blindfolded subject would be challenged to match the pair of headphones he is randomly given 10 times. At any time the subject can ask to listen to the pair of his choice. After he does this the pair is given back to the experimenter who randomizes both pairs again. Of course the subject can only make his guesses after the pairs have been randomized. Each guess will be recorded for 10 guesses. The conclusions will be based on the statistical probabilities from guessing vs. genuinely getting them right. Man I wish I had some extra money and time to burn.

The difference is usually very significant, especially in the high and lows. I've had headphones go from unusable to being great for the specific decisions I was trying to make on them after they were broken in. I've seen smaller nearfields change even more dramatically after being broken in too. Obviously some do change more than others though - I've seen some larger full range mastering speakers that didn't change all too much. If your room sucks, or your amp sucks maybe the difference won't be so obvious. But, if you're trying to make good decisions, it's necessary to break them in. Thanks for letting us know how to conduct an experiment though!

 

[Zuranthus]

well, until someone decides to put this to a scientific test (if not done already) we won't really know the effects