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Conditioning/Burn-In Method

DISCLAIMER
Potentially controversial subject matter ahead. Thus post is recommended for mature audiences only. If you're in the school of thought that cables are voodoo, this post is not for you, please move among.

Now, to business.

I'm in the process of working in a set of Signal Cable Silver Resolution XLR interconnects between my DAC, Preamp and Amplifier. So far, I probably have only 20 hours or so of play, and if memory serves, Frank recommends 60 hours or more. Given the difference in amplitude from DAC to Preamp, and from Preamp to Amplifier, do you guys think it might be worth swapping them out (rotating them) to help balance and perhaps accelerate the process?

Thanks in advance!

parabolic
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
I would say from my experience cables do lose some of the ’magic’ of being conditioned if they are not in use for a long time. And moving cables (IE bending them a lot) also reduces the effects of breaking in and they may need time to get fully broken in again.
So the ’break in' effect is not really fully permanent. But it certainly lasts if the cable is used on a regular basis.

(Personally I think the Cable Cooker ’recooking’ is a marketing ploy, that may also have a small measure of truth, but over stated.)
rotaryphone
159 posts
 
Yup. What she said. 
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
Yeah, as if anyone can keep track of how cables are sounding over long periods of time. Heck, the sound changes every day for a boatload of perfectly valid reasons. What are you going to do, blame it all on the cables? Maybe the fuses? Wire directionality? The weather? Give me a break!
jl35
2,244 posts
 
agree that break-in is both electrical and physical
celander's avatar
celander
1,036 posts
 
@elizabeth, how do you break in your cables? What would you consider a long non-use time (and circumstances, i.e., cables being unplugged from components or simply not sending an active signal through the cables?) and cable movement that brings about a need to recondition the cables?
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