Do headphones sound better after you "burn them in"?
Anyone who has audophile grade headphones has probably heard of the "burn in" period. In fact, the best headphones I've owned I've had to burn in based on some stuff I read online about it making the headphones sound better. It is a myth or is it based on fact? I decided to look into whether or not it's a real effect or if my ears deceived me.
The lowest level sounds typically a human can hear represent the bass. This is usually below 20hz. From here the human ear can hear up to 20khz or 20,000hz.
But there is debate on this as many people disagree on whether burn-in matters:
Wired's Bryan Gardiner explains "There’s zero evidence this does anything but defer your enjoyment of music and add more confusion to an already complex topic." Burning in a new pair of headphones involves playing music or sound on them continuously for dozens or hundreds of hours, often loops of white noise or pink noise or sweeping tones.
But is there really zero evidence? No there is not. There is zero physical evidence perhaps but not zero subjective evidence. People who experience music (myself included) have noticed that older headphones seem to sound better than fresh out the box headphones even when the fresh out the box headphones are theoretically a better model or have better drivers.
Now it is also possible that the DAC plays a huge role here or the lack or of addition of an amp. What does Steemit think? Any audiophiles here think burn-in makes a difference?
I think they probably sound better because you get used to them
This might be true too. I'm not exactly sure yet but it's possible we just take a while to get used to them.
or maybe I never managed to keep them for long enough. It seems all the headphones I own are programmed to self-distruct after a year
Good quality headphones last a few years but when they break it's usually a short in the wiring. An audiophile set (headphones+DAC/AMP) can easily go for $1000. The headphones alone can go for $1000 and the DAC/AMP another $1000.
But it's not so cool if something which costs $1000+ breaks.
I did not do any type of burn-in procedure but I'm quite sure my Senheiser hd600's (on vacuum tube amp) sounded a bit better after a few days of use; maybe It was just me getting used to them, hard to say without a side by side comparison.