Burn-in time Vs. Getting used to a sound


I have had much in the way of high end audio over the years. ...and the idea of an electronic item needing several hundred hours of use before sounding their best..is an accepted idea now (for the most part). Recently I have heard a growing thought of this just being the user getting used to the sound of a product.. Truthfully in the early days of Large Advents, DQ-10 Dahlquists and other gear..there was never any talk of burn-in time... Any thoughts out there on this.... Truth or Hype?
whatjd

Showing 3 responses by redkiwi

Both are present, but getting used to the sound is the lesser of the two. A significant part of the burn-in seems to relate to how dialectrics form, whether in cables or in capacitors. The reason why I think burn-in is the larger is this: I hear the sound of a CD differently the third (or so) time I hear it compared with the first. I could ascribe this to burn-in, but it is more likely to be getting used to the sound of the recording gear used, and perhaps also the acoustic clues become less confusing with familiarity. But in running in components there seems to be a repeated sequence of how the sound changes. First bright and thin and flat. Very slowly fleshing out, then all of a sudden going soft and soggy and lacking in dynamics. Then gradually sharpening and speeding up with resolution finally reaching its peak. I find it difficult to ascribe this sequence to just getting used to the sound.
Every time I have bought a new component there have been significant changes in the sound over a period of weeks, and the sequence of how the sound changes is usually the same. I find this to be completely unexplained by Brutus' view that there is some psychological thing going on. Of course it is possible that my ears are being burned in to the sound of the component - but this would not explain why, when I bought a second Theta Data III it did not sound like my old one for some weeks and then after a few weeks it sounded the same. For Brutus to be right I would have had to subliminally told myself the new (identical looking and identically spec'd) machine must sound different, and then changed my subliminal mind three weeks later. But Brutus - do any of these "nay-saying" opinions of yours have any basis in your actual experience, as opposed to what your understanding of electrical engineering theory tells you. I have yet to see a post from you that refers to actual experience. If your opinions are in fact based on experience, then perhaps you could outline your system and setup so that we may surmise why you do not hear what so many others with highly resolving systems hear.
Brutus, I just saw your post saying you tried a few specialist power cords and heard no difference - so I take back my earlier statement. I am still interested in your system contect, however.