1. Home
  2. cables
  3. 137172-115924

Cable Burn In

I'm new here and new to the audiophile world. I recently acquired what seems to be a really high end system that is about 15 years old. Love it. Starting to head down the audiophile rabbit hole I'm afraid.

But, I have to laugh (quietly) at some of what I'm learning and hearing about high fidelity.

The system has really nice cables throughout but I needed another set of RCA cables. I bit the bullet and bought what seems to be a good pair from World's Best Cables. I'm sure they're not the best you can get and don't look as beefy as the Transparent RCA cables that were also with this system. But, no sense bringing a nice system down to save $10 on a set of RCA cables, I guess.

Anyway, in a big white card on the front of the package there was this note: In big red letters "Attention!". Below that "Please Allow 175 hours of Burn-in Time for optimal performance."

I know I'm showing my ignorance but this struck me as funny. I could just see one audiophile showing off his new $15k system to another audiophile and saying "Well, I know it sounds like crap now but its just that my RCA cables aren't burned-in yet. Just come back in 7.29 days and it will sound awesome."
n80
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 
Blueranger
The human ear is limited to 20-20 at best. I do believe there
are parameters our scientific instruments cannot measure in the sonic realm. Its not cut and dry. To be fair a human is not infallable. We cannot be calibrated like an instrument. However with that being said the cable burn-in phenomena is real. Too many people have experienced just to dismiss It. Quick AB test are inaccurate. You have to listen for long periods at a time to pick out differences.

>>>>The ear is limited but the human brain is not. The human brain itself is sensitive to interference and noise from a variety of sources that affect our hearing, e.g., RFI/EMI and subtle conscious and subconscious influences of our physical surroundings and emotional and mental state. News flash! Our perception of sound is not (rpt not) completely based on what goes into the ears. We can be easily distracted, even consciously. For example if someone is conversing with us we may not hear the sound at all, or only as background, I.e., phase lock loop effect.
blueranger's avatar
blueranger
575 posts
 
You hit the nail on the head. Ears are like the microphones and our brains are like the tape recorders in the studio. Oh well maybe not a good analogy. Steve Guttenberg in on of his youtube videos predicts that in the future we won't be listening to music by our ears but the music will be fed directly into our brains for ultimate fidelity!!
ieales's avatar
ieales
297 posts
 
In TBCBI [Time Before Cable Burn In] we experienced everything attributed to it.

What primitives we were putting it down to weather, connector outgas & pollutant contamination, electronic variability, diet, rest, ad nauseum.

Riddle me this, Batmen: How does a cable 'know when to stop' burning in?
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
14,147 posts
 

blueranger
You hit the nail on the head. Ears are like the microphones and our brains are like the tape recorders in the studio. Oh well maybe not a good analogy. Steve Guttenberg in on of his youtube videos predicts that in the future we won’t be listening to music by our ears but the music will be fed directly into our brains for ultimate fidelity!!

>>>>If you don’t think it’s a good analogy why did you say it? Microphones and recorders, well, quite. Ears are like microphones and brains are like transceivers. And the transceivers work on the conscious level and the subconscious level. Much of the noise and distortion you’re perceiving (hearing) is not from the recording or anything in the system. It’s still S/N + D. You can’t tell the difference, whether the N or D is from the system or outside the system. The brain doesn’t differentiate. I’m from Guttenberg’s future.
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
The answer to the riddle, batman, is the cable NEVER stops 'burning in'. The cable improvement is a curve, with no actual end point. When the cable is in use, it improves, when not in use, it gradually loses the break in mojo. Or if it is moved, bent, it loses some to, and tales time to get back to a good pint of break in. Why the folks who use and promote the 'Cable Cooker devices say cables should be redone now and then for best sound.
More to discover