“A highly misunderstood area of cable performance is the subject of cable run-in, sometimes (inaccurately) referred to as “break-in.” “Break-in” properly applies to one-way mechanical phenomena, such as a motor or a loudspeaker surround. Cables and capacitors do not “break-in”, rather their “dielectric forms,” meaning that it takes time for the dielectric material to adapt to a charged state.
This process is quite audible and explains the signi cant improvement heard in electronics, loudspeakers and cables as signal is applied over a period of time. It has long been noted that cables (and all audio com- ponents) sound better after having been left turned-on for a number of days. It has also been noted that once turned off, the component or cable slowly returns to its original uncharged state. For many music lov- ers, this means that they are almost never hearing their cables in their optimum state.”