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Do cables really need "breaking in"?

The post about whether speaker cables matter has inspired me to ask another question...do cables really need a break in period to sound their best? Some people say cables need to be broken in or played for a while before they achieve optimal sound.

This sounds to me like it was invented by believers in astrology. Isn't that break-in period just allowing time for the human listener to get used to them? Has anyone ever done an A/B test with new cables vs. used cables of the same type and noticed a difference?

All I know is that new Porsche or new bed (or new girlfriend for that matter) feels totally different after you've had it for a month versus the first day. Ever moved into a house/apartment/hotel and noticed all kinds of distracting ambient noise that seemed to disappear after you'd been there for a while. It's human nature. Even if cables needed a break-in period, how could humans tell, with all these other much more noticeable factors distracting them?
matt8268

Showing 3 responses by bomarc

bomarc
501 posts
 
More likely it was invented by cable purveyors, who wanted to discourage returns. "Don't like it? Let it break in some more." I've never heard of a properly controlled comparison of old and new cables, though you can expect lots of personal testimonials to follow.

Given that there is no permanent physical or chemical change to cables resulting from their use, the most likely explanation for any perceived change in sound over time is, as you say, psychological. And your final point is a good one, too: There are too many confounding variables to draw any conclusions about how a cable's sound changes over time, even if it does. But that never stopped anybody.
bomarc
501 posts
 
Sean: First of all, I don't like participating in discussions in which someone tells me to "shut up." As for your "flat earth" reference, I don't think anyone here wants a discussion on scientific method, so I will only state that all of your experiences with a particular product do nothing to challenge the suspicions of some of us that perceived changes in cable sound over time may well be a psychological rather than a physical phenomenon.
bomarc
501 posts
 
A couple of cautions about Sean's "protocol" for comparisons. The side-by-side mono test does not cut it: If the two speakers are not in exactly the same place (a physical impossibility, of course), you get room effects, which can be very audible. Second, it's amazing how little information you have to give a test subject to bias them. Merely telling them they are listening to two different cables sets up the expectation that they will sound different. That's why researchers don't use AB comparisons, but ABX tests, which require subjects to positively identify the X.

However, we aren't researchers. We're hobbyists.And objective though I may be, I wouldn't expect anyone to go to the trouble of setting up a proper ABX test. I only mean to suggest that we should be a little careful in how we interpret the more relaxed comparisons we actually do.
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