Skeptic or just plain hard headed


So I purchased a pair of Morrow Audio phono cables. These are the PH3 with the Eichmann connectors. Wanted to start there to see if MA cables will be a viable option for my system.I think my story is not so unique to others who have purchased MA cables. So no need to go into the hu hum of burn-in in regards to MA cables, and how things sound bad at first, then gets better,  then excellent...yada yada yada. I know the story about this product.  I simply am one who is not a believer in electronics break in periods, or battery packs on cables, etc... Regardless of what side of the fence you are on in regards to that Im NOT trying to start that debate again please.. Anyway. After reading several reviews of the MA cables and understanding that most agreed that the cables needed a substantial burn-in time, and that the cables would not sound its best until this happens I decided to give them a try. Thinking ok lets get a jump on the burn-in period (if the concept is true). I paid for the 2 day burn-in service from MA. What I didn't expect is that when I got the cable it would sound as bad as it did in comparison to my existing name brand cable (not getting into that either, not relevant). I thought well the cable might not quite be up to snuff with all this talk about burn-in (if its true) but not that much of a difference.  I mean as soon as I dropped the needle on the record I immediately heard a profound difference in sound stage and clarity degridation. Needless to say this cable was destined to be returned to MA for a full refund and my thinking was "they are crazy if I am going to trade my cable for this cable" So I decided to give MA a call to setup the return. Talked with Mike Morrow (very nice guy by the way) and we had our differences in what I should expect out of his product. Now my Mother always told me that I have a hard head.. I heard that growing up all my life, and when you couple that with skepticism it makes a pretty, well lets just say not a very fun person to have a debate with lol. However Mike insisted that if I return the cable that I would be missing out on the fruit they would bare after 400 hours of break in. 400 hours??? really!. Oh at that point I was really ready to return them. I told all my friends "Mike must be nuts" (no offense Mike) no way am I going to wait a year to hear what this cable is capable of, AND I do not have any way to expedite the process...at least I thought I didn't until I found an old sound bar I don't use anymore with analog inputs. Ok I know you pro MA and  pro cable burn-in folks are chomping at the bit. Im almost done. Take your hands off the keyboard for just a few more lines. 

So here is the deal to be fair I am going to be open minded about this because Mike really made me feel like I would be missing out if I return the cable without a proper burn-in (great salesman), and since he had such conviction I now think I have to test this thing out right??. Now I know that there are testimonials out there about how the MA cable improved over 100s of hours in their system, and that they are now "blown away". However can you really hear a profound difference in a cable you play in your system over 170 hours or so?  I would think a gradual difference would be harder to detect. I mean my system seems to sound better to me everyday without making any changes. Is it because of  continued cable and electronics burn in?? maybe. Or maybe its just my brain becoming more intimate with the sound of my system. Well this test I'm doing should reveal a night and day difference from what the system sounds like today with the cable pre burn-in if there is any merit to the notion. In regards to does it sound better than my existing cable that is yet to be determined. I think my goal now is to prove or dis-prove if cable burn-in is a real thing. This whole idea has evolved from if it's an improvement or not over what I use today. We can discuss that later.

I now have the cable connected between a cd player , and a sound bar with a CD playing on repeat. The disc of choice for this burn-in is rather dynamic so it should be a good test. At the end of 16 days (384 hours) I will move the cables to my reference system and do about another 20 hours of additional burn-in to compensate for moving the cable. This will put a total of 452 hours of burn-in on the PH3. When I put this cable back in my system I sure hope it sings because this is a lot to go through to add a cable to your system. Mike if you are right I will eat crow and will preach from the highest mountain top that you are right, and that cable burn-in is REAL.  For me anyway the myth will be considered busted or reinforce my belief that cable burn-in is a bunch of BS. 

For those who will argue the point of cable burn-in I fully understand the concept, and I don't plan to get sucked down that rat hole and I won't argue that....yet because at the end of this test I may be in your camp and I don't want to have a steady diet of crow so for now I will remain neutral on the subject until the test is complete.  However I will be totally transparent and honest about the results. So not trying to make anyone angry as I know beliefs about audio are sensitive subjects, and rightfully so this hobby is expensive and I like you have a substancial investment in this. Just trying to get to the truth. I also understand that cable burn-in may actually happen when you consider it from a scientific perspective, but the real question is can you actually hear the difference.  

I will report back to this thread in 17 days from today (need at least one day to evaluate) with the results. 

happy listening!!

-Keith
barnettk
@ivan_nosnibor oj for sure. I was just giving him a hard time. I think he knows that 😁

i do olan to carry on with what I’m doing.  Come to far to stop now. Plus it’s good conversation and that’s how you learn from one another. So far I think it’s been rather civil and not a lot of cat fighting which is what I was bracing for (not that, that’s what I want). Good group of folks just talking hifi. Not always going to agree. 
@ieales,

You would have to explain all that to me so that even I could understand it.
I had the M.O.B.I.E. Maximum Overdrive Burn In Electronics burn in device, the very one that John Curl and Bob Crump used to burn in of all their Throbbing Gristle TG power cords and interconnects fir the two shows I participated in. Alan Kafton’s Cable Cooker was used to burn in all Jena Labs and Shunyata cables for the monster Tenor Audio-Rockport system I participated in. Playing music through cables will never really get close to the performance an active device or burn in track provide. If you could hear what I’ve heard with my ears.

your friend and audio insider
Oh, I see what you’re saying. I had it back when I had cables. 😳
Yes, Geoff once had it, but he doesn’t have it anymore.

Sorry to say, that goes for the cable cooker also.
Jitter is a very bad man. Or boy. Or girl, whatever. Jitter never had it. He’s still looking for it.  🥰

barnettk OP
114 posts12-08-2018 11:51am@geoffkait soooo your not using cables now?

No more cables, no more power cords
No more ICs, no more fuses
No more big transformers
No more giant capacitors
No more house AC or AC GROUND
No more pencils, no more books
No more teacher’s dirty looks 🤓
for anyone that doesn't know that Mr Kait, see his Brilliant Pebbles http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm
on his Machina Dynamica site.

Rumor has it his system is a battery powered Walkman CD player and headphones which obviously gives him expertise on all things.

Mr Kait is the Black Knight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYMla7qlBsg
Thanx, eels, I sometimes feel a twinge of remorse whenever I boost my own products here. Much appreciated. I’m given serious consideration to putting you in my stable. But first try to make your sentences grammatically correct.

barbettk, there’s no reason to use foul language here. Is this your first rodeo, cowpoke?
Still doing some tests with this cable. May as well since I paid for them to ship it to me. Interesting reveal today. On my tube system I have the Turntable connected to the phono stage with a line level RCA cable; however on this particular TT it uses a ClearAudio virtuoso V2 Ebony wood MM (I LOVE this cartridge) . So I decided to try the PH3 in this application since this setup should really be using a lower capacitance cable being its MM. Tested with Rickie Lee Jones self titled LP. The impact was positive on this system. The decay was apparent especially on the bass guitar lead in on Night Train, and Rickie's singing style as she trails her voice off at the end of phrases which is why I selected this particular album to test with. Bass response was overall improved with good quality, deep and accurate. Voice timbre is where the cable shined however. The timbre of Rickie's voice was rather excellent. The AQ cable presented a much thinner Timbre to Rickies voice that the MA cable was able to overcome no doubt about it. Even my wife was able to tell the difference, and she loves Rickie Lee Jones! I mean these were profound differences to me. There is definitely in a improvement over my existing AQ cable in all respects. I AM NOT attributing this to burn in. In this case I think its more of an improvement because this cable may simply be better match for this gear. So maybe I have found a home for the MA cable after all. Still going to continue the burn in for the final test next Friday, but just thought I would offer up this bit of info for those interested. 
Post removed 
Hello All,
     Just a semi-related anecdote, I’ve got a large commercial building with a crazy-fun-exasperating sound system (posted in virtual systems, Village Baker Madness). One time I had the great idea to hook up a pair of Jamo E770’s to my NAD 355BEE with each channel needing over 250 feet of wire! (Up columns, through ceilings, over roofs, through rafters etc...) 
    Of course, I did NOT use Nordost’s top wire. Instead I picked up a cheapo spool at Home Depot. After tightening the last connection and brushing the insulation dust off my chest, I cued up Dido’s Sand in my Shoes. I’m a sucker for that song and I know it well. I was..... bummed. Only the midrange sounded OK, the rest of the audio-band was extremely attenuated. But I let it play for days anyway. And I was away from it; we needed sound in that remote area for a future event and at least I had it hooked up. 
     So after an inadvertent burn-in of new but generic 14 AWG wire, in a situation that if nothing else would exaggerate any change in sound, I learned that YES, wire does change after carrying an electric current over time. The highs and lows filled in dramatically and conclusively! I could even say that those Jamo’s sounded great! And I pride myself in my vigorous skepticism, and consider the scientific method to be humanity’s true rudder.
~Oran
@oranfoster very nice system especially for commercial space. Nicely done. So question for you. I am considering an ultrasonic record cleaner. Truthfully (not that you wouldn’t be anyway) so they really work as good as the hype? I REALLY want one. 
@oranfoster one other question. Have you ever damaged a record by leaving it in to long or having it set to high? 
Well Keith, you have curated a great and lively thread, for sure. Music reproduction by electrical and mechanical engineering is such a complex blend of art, science, and aesthetics that definitive answers will never be universal and.... that's ok by me. At the risk of being too saccharine, it's the journey that's compelling. And thanks for taking a peek at my virtual systems.

Before I bought an Audio Desk Systeme, I used one of those $79.00 Spin-Cleans. I have to say that those work pretty darn good, exquisitely so for the money. The Audio Desk works better by every measure. I haven't noticed any static charge build-up on the records which come out dry. This RCM may not be the best, but at least in this case, it's the one component I own which IS in the highest realm. So one has the added psychological assurance that if a record sounds bad after getting a good cleaning by the Audio Desk, it will in all likely-hood never sound that great. I traded my original one (when upgrading to the PRO model) to a local NPR classical and jazz station for credit towards underwriting for my business. The overnight jazz guy (who is one of the country's best jazz DJ's) LOVES it and will never play a record on-air again which first hasn't had a cycle in the machine. Many of his records which he hasn't been able to play for years have found new life on his show. I have never had a record compromised by the RCM. The labels never get a drop on them.

Lastly, In an effort to get better performance out of my analog front-end I downgraded my phono preamp! I sold my Parasound Halo JC3+ and replaced it with the new Accuphase AD-50 phono option board for my E-470 integrated. This card was less than a third the cost of the Parasound (bought direct from Japan) but eliminated an interconnect and a power-cord. I haven't tried to interpret every aspect of the new sound as far as frequency response, dynamic range, comparative neutrality or warmth, etc., becuase the noise floor has dropped so much that I don't even think about comparisons. The sheer silence of the Accuphase board compared to the very nicely engineered JC3+ trumps all other variables; at least for me in my system. So I guess the tangential relevance of that is that the break-in period  for the interconnects and power-cord that I was using are now moot. Sometimes less IS more.

Regards,
Oran
 
To start, I am not a sales person, affiliated with any product or company in any way and a newbie at that.
I find it hard to pay big bucks for wire, but feel compelled to have something nicer than a pair of Wal-mart IC or the like.  Anyway, IF the cables sound great (better than his reference ones) AND someone feels the need to upgrade I noticed that Morrow has used cables (already broken in??) AND they are 40% off.  I bit the bullet as I need a pair of IC for my new Audio Hungary APR 204 and First Watt F7 setup.
Looking forward to the results
Based on my possibly utterly inaccurate tracking of the break-in time of a pair of Morrow cables I received in late September (or late to mid September, or late mid September), these might have reached their break-in peak moment without my noticing anything in particular. My rig does sound great these days, and the fact that the cables pushed through the break-in period on their own...I mean really...I just plugged the damn things in...is commendable as, after all, they seemed to be just sitting there. Somehow I feel it could be appropriate to note this accomplishment with a small brass plaque someplace...they worked so hard to get there.
I suspect the chances are Good to Excellent you didn’t notice the break in because they’re in the wrong direction.
@oranfoster Oran. Thank you for the information on the ultrasonic. I think Santa is going to have to bring one on over. I have been considering one like I said for some time. I currently use a spin clean, along with the record doctor vacuum machine. I also use Tergikleen solution  that seems to work really well. However it’s two machines that makes record cleaning a little laborious to say the least. However the results are acceptable. However I feel like I should be doing a better job at doing the task with a nicer machine. Not throwing shade in the spin clean or the record doctor vacuum because as I said together they do work well. Put it this way. It’s better than nothing. 

Your  correct about music reproduction being a complex blend of art and science. Absolutely agree. I really have to take a step back sometime with all this because you can easily get to caught up in the hobby side that you forget what it’s all about in the first place, which is enjoying the music. Maybe the two go hand in hand. 

Appreciate your input. Nice to meet you. 
@twoleftears yep. As soon as I wrap up my work day I will start my comparison. Looking forward to it. Then I have to write up a conclusion and the wheel will go round and round again lol. However it should be fun. 
Results:

For those who just want the short and sweet answer and to get on with their lives.  Burn-in of audio cables or at least this particular cable does make a difference in how that cable sounds in your system. If you want to know how much keep reading.

Going to try and keep this as short as possible, however I think its only fair to carefully go over my conclusion and my thoughts about this test of a highly debated subject between audio enthusiast that dates back decades. I guess it only makes sense that audio interconnects and speaker cable would be a marketable item for gear manufactures once they found out that we would pay enormous amounts of money on home audio gear. After all its the cables that connect all this expensive high quality equipment together in the first place right. Hence an argument was born about if a piece of copper wire, and dielectric wrapped in a nice pretty sheath really makes or breaks a system. A lot of us take what we consider a common sense approach, some take a more scientific approach, and most of us are caught someplace in the middle when it comes to the importance of audio cables in our systems. So the argument rages on between the haves and the have nots for whichever side of that fence you stand on. 

Let me start by saying this. Im not trying to change anyones mind, but I think now I am going to at least take a side. Prior to this experiment I was firmly on the side of while I felt that cables made a difference, I considered things like Cable burn in and such was just snake oil and burning in a cable would not make any difference in how that cable sounded from day 1.. after all its a cable for goodness sakes. Right... well maybe. 

For those that have not had time to read this whole post let me quickly summerize the goal of all this. I purchased a Morrow Audio PH3 phono cable as an upgrade.  I am currently using an Audioquest MacKenzie cable for this application. I had read a lot of reviews of the Morrow Audio product and people were just raving about them. So I decided to see what the hype is all about and maybe it would be a better solution for me over what I have now. Got the cable installed it and was not impressed initially at all. There was a profound difference in sound quality between the MA cable and the AQ cable. Called MA, and was told that the cable wouldn't deliver until it was fully burned in after 400 HOURS of use. I thought that was ridiculous, but decided to see for myself. So I rigged a way to pass an audio signal down the cable for 400+ hours. Prior to doing that I made a recording of a record I am very failure with to set up an A/B comparison after the burn in period and that 451 hours happened today. My goal was to try and determine if burn in of a audio interconnect made ANY difference at all. 

what did I do exactly: 

The source I used for the A/B comparison was Donald Fagen's The Night Fly MoFi special edition 45 RPM LP. This is an amazing sounding record and I am very very failure with the entire album. been listening to it since it was originally released back in 1982. So I recorded the first track I.G.Y to my reel to reel prior to connecting the cable for the burn in process. Oh by the way the cable came from MA with 48 hours of burn in from their factory because I purchased the burn-in service. 

Upon initially listing to the MA cable in my system compared to the Mackenzie it sounded flat and lifeless. Almost like the cable did not have a soul if that makes sense. The bass was muddy to me, and the sound stage was there but just messy.. not sure how else to describe it. 

After burn-in I rewound the tape about to the middle of the song and lined up the record as close as I could to where the tape was then recorded from there to the end of the song. Doing this I was able to splice in the MA cable performance post burn in. During playback as the tape played to the cross over point in the song I could hear a definite improvement. The first thing I noticed was a slight rise in amplitude, the dynamic range was improved, but the biggest difference was the sound stage. Fagen's voice re-aligned in the sound stage where it should be and the separation between his voice and the instruments was apparent. pre burn-in I was very aware of my Olympica IIIs in the room. As the reel  progressed to the burn-in section of the tape the speakers disappeared more into the room and the song just became more enjoyable to listen to overall. Now Im not saying that the sky opened up and the Angles began to sing in harmony while Gabriel's trumpet summoned me to heaven but I am saying that on this tape there is a noticeable difference between the pre and post burn-in of the MA cable. 

Conclusion of the tape test: 
Burn in made the cable sound better. Period

Now could it top my existing AQ cable which it clearly could not when I first received it. 
Moving from the recording I made on the reel to reel I could now really stretch the cables legs. First up I compared Cassandra Wilson's Blue Moon Daughter LP. On the track Strange Fruit. My AQ cable did not disappoint and sounded good as it usually does. However when I installed the PH3...wow what a difference 400 hours makes. Just a side note. If you really want to see if your system can create a realistic sound stage and if you want to see if your system can reproduce a recording the way it's meant to be heard for you jazz fans this is a MUST have recording. Its recorded on the Blue Note label and its pressing quality is rather amazing. I selected this record because properly reproducing a female vocalist IMO is one of the hardest things for most systems to do. The MA cable really did a fantastic job of separating Cassandr's vocal  from the Bass violin and other instruments on the record. The speakers TOTALLY disappeared into the room to the point that I actually felt that she and her band were in my listening room. The sound stage was perfect, and I do mean perfect. On this particular song the AQ cable made her vocal and the Bass violin almost on top of each other. I could clearly determine where each instrument was on the stage.. this was to me a revelation as I have not heard this record like this previously in my listening area. Im trying not to sound to well "over the top" but I guess you had to be here. For this recording the MA cable BLEW the AQ cable away no doubt about it. 

I continued to play various LPs John Klemmer's Finesse, and rounded it out with Pink Floyd The wall  which IMO is an amazing piece of Rock and Roll. On Klemmer the Tenor Sax was deep with accurate timbre, Floyd's antics were spot on. Both Cables handled the other music I listened to admirably but I have to give the edge still to the MA cable.Then I put on Wagner Walkure, and that is when the majic happened. The symphony was incredible followed by Mahler Symphony No 3 also incredible. Again both cables did a good job but the edge again has to go to the MA cable. 

Wait was that an angle I just heard, and it sounded like I heard a faint trumpet in the distance.. must be hearing things.. 


Conclusion to my conclusion: 

The MA cable is a keeper now that its burned in.  I am considering buying another cable for my tube system, but I am going to go with one that does not need this much care to settle in as I am just not that patient. I mean 400 hours under normal listening conditions would just simply be way way to long. So while I do like how it sounds now.. prob won't go down that path again. 

Did the MA cable make a noticeable difference after 400 hours of burn in YES it did. If you don't believe  it...get you one and put 400 hours on it and see for yourself. Could I have heard the difference with 400 hours of normal play hell no. It would be to subtle. You have to do a comparison to remove the lapsed time in between. If you buy this cable and listen out of the box you will most likely return it. It has to go through the burn in. MA was correct on that. 

Next time I buy:
I think moving forward whatever the next cable I buy will have to sound good out of the box or at least over 48 hours or so as it should only get better from there. 

This whole thing has left me with more questions than answers about cables I have to say. Example.. I wonder where that line is.. you know the line of diminishing returns. Does a cable that costs $2500 sound that much better than a $400 cable?? Im sure I will never know. Are there different burn in periods for different cables or is 400 hours the golden number that a cable actually sings. Questions questions questions. For now I am going to just be happy with where Im at and get back to enjoying the music. Maybe someday I will try another cable upgrade.. no time soon tho. 

 In close:

I am convinced that cables do make a difference, and cable burn-in..well Im a believer. Oh by the way I did not ask my wife and friends to listen here because It was clear. Not even close in regards to is there a difference after burn-in. It was obvious to me. 

Thanks for reading. Happy listening!


Post removed 
In close:  I am convinced that cables do make a difference, and cable burn-in..well Im a believer..... It was clear. Not even close in regards to is there a difference after burn-in. It was obvious to me.

@barnettk  Thanks for sharing your experience and findings.

+1 on your effort and detailed reporting. It's appreciated.
Sorry to rain on your parade, but analog tape is not a valid test for before and after. Analog tape decays quite rapidly and print through muddies the sound. Add in sonic differences due to thermal deltas and results are even more suspect. Was the recorder demagged before each recording? Was freq alignment checked / changed?

Get Morrow to send you another cable and run [double preferred] blind A/B tests.
I have a funny feeling he won’t be ordering any more Morrow Cables or burning in any more cables. Just a hunch. Besides, analog tape - even with its limitations, whatever you want to come up with - still sounds considerably better than digital under normal conditions. I’ll grant you CD looks great on paper. No argument there.  I won’t address the whole double blind test issue here again. You know....
@ieales which is why I did not only use the tape for the test. However since there were sonic differences and the differences were better on the over recorded section of the tape still proves  the point. I actually anticipated some degradation on the section of the tape I re-recorded on but the quality still improved. So for me that’s good  enough. Nothing will be perfect but I did the best I could with what I had to work with. -Thanks
I think it’s worth saying. I’m not throwing shade on Morrow Audio. Their product did exactly what they said it would do. IMO they are not just saying something to make you buy their product then be disappointed after the return policy expires. The cable is worth the money I guess if your willing to be patient with it. I personally just don’t have the patience so I guess you can add “impatient” to skeptic and hard headed. Don’t get it twisted. I’m keeping the cable. Just probably will go a different route on my next csble purchase for the the aforementioned reason. 
Question, what makes you think Morrow cables are the only ones that require a long break in. It sounds like Morrow is brave and honest enough to at least explain the facts of life to you. Haven’t  you been paying attention to all the capacitor burn in and fuse burn in threads and other cable burn in threads? As I mentioned somewhere recently when bob sold TG Audio cables he burned them in for 30 days on a burn in device. That’s 24x30 or more than 700 hours according to my calculator. 
I never said they are the only ones. Im saying the next cable I purchase will need to sound good out of the box. Just like my AQ cable did and if it gets better over time that’s a bonus. I agree and I think I made the point that MA was transparent in what to expect. Did I not say that? 
OK. Did MA ever explain why their cables do not sound good out of the box? People often complain things don’t sound good out of the box, I have noticed it many times including at CES where you really hear when the entire system needs burning in. I mentioned somewhere recently how some exhibits use burn in devices all day and all night trying to get sound that doesn’t suck by the time the doors open. More specifically, people complain things sound strange, lifeless, bass shy, fooled off, flat, honky, sour, irritating, lackluster, threadbare, or like paper mache. Maybe you just weren’t paying close attention because at that time you didn’t think about burn in, or your system wasn’t as revealing or there is something very unusual about MA cables. I will stop now. 😬
Fair enough. Let’s just leave it at that. However you can’t tell me what I heard and what I didn’t hear. That’s just your opinion. Which is fine by the way. I knew going in that I would not please everyone. Not trying to. Just reporting as honestly as I can of how this went down. It’s up to you or anyone else to take it as you will. Like I said.  Not trying to change anyone’s anyone’s mind about anything. Think what you will.  
I enjoy trying to get to the truth of the matter. Is there something that’s a mystery there worth pursuing? That’s the full extent of it. Over and out.
What if I told you power cables make tremendous differences in sq, and require burn in / break in time. All products require it. Lots of articles / threads about that. Enjoy ! MrD.
@mrdecibel. MR D. I feel that power cables do indeed make a difference I SQ. It would be difficult for me to believe interconnects make a difference after burn in and not believe the same thing about a power csble. Unless you suggest otherwise. The components power supply is exteeemly important to SQ so it would make sense that what goes into it matters. I’m sure there are others on this forum with more knowledge in this subject than me but that’s my $0.2
@barnettk Thanks for a fun ride! I'm not quite sure why a cable could burn in. One thought I seem to gravitate to is that a new cable has grain boundaries that are rough and jagged and after you run electrical current through them for long enough, "smoother" paths form similar to a river smoothing out a riverbed. This should be measurable with the right tools. Who has a scanning electron microscope we can borrow in the name of cable science?
@mkgus haha. Actually not sure why I’m laughing because I actually thought about that and I wondered why no one has gone to those lengths to prove/disprove if anything physical actually does happen with cables after a long time use (at least I have not found that published anyplace yet). Perhaps that much research from the scientific community either A. Thinks its to expensive to invest the time and effort on the subject, B. Cable manufactures don’t want to because they might be afraid of the results. Even if they can prove a physical change happens to a cable or its dielectric during “burn in” then you would have to prove that change directly affects SQ, or C It’s just not that important of a thing to prove from the scientific communites point of view. Could be a little of all 3 among other things I guess. At any rate. In my case I can actually say there was a difference. What changed or how it changed, or if that change reverses or gets worst even is a possibility. After all according to MA after 50 hours of burn in the cable is supposed to get worst before it gets better. I mean it’s entirely possible that cables get better then worst then better then worst again during their life cycle. If it’s true at 50 hours it does beg the question. What’s so special about 50 hours?? What happens at 600 hours?? Does a cable have an end of life in regards to SQ? Shelf life? Like I said in my conclusion more questions than before. It’s an interesting subject but at this point for me anyway I’m just going to enjoy the system how it sounds now and enjoy the music. It is fun to talk about tho.
I said early on in this thread that MA cables do need quite a bit of time to break in, as I own some. I cannot explain most things that I hear, but, I hear them. Enjoy ! MrD.
I doubt Scanning Electron Microscopy would detect any difference between new and burned-in cables. I don't think there is enough energy to produce physical changes durning burn-in but there may be enough to produce electronic changes. Morrow states that the PH3 cables are silver coated copper wire. I don't know how they coat the silver or how thick the silver layer is, but the silver/copper interface may be the key to the change during burn-in with these cables. Many years ago we did some experiments looking at evaporated silver clusters on copper using Photoelectron Spectroscopy. The silver/copper interface produced new electronic states near the Fermi Level that change on annealing at which point the surface conductivity increases. The long burn-in time with low current may have a similar effect on the electronic states at the silver/copper interface which may improve the conductivity.